The Shadow
by tiggerpal07
Summary: What if Naruto had someone to guide him? Someone who was as legendary as Namikaze Minato? AU but follows major canon events. Slight HP crossover. Please read. This is my first story. ABANDONED. Reason: Main charcacter being a John Doe does not work
1. Chapter 1

**The Shadow**

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech"**

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- morse code, sign language, etc:

_Thoughts_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 1

The moon was high in the air. It was a full moon and there was not a cloud in the sky. It would have been an ideal night for star gazing had it not been for the bestial roar that rent the air.

**"Meat bags! Not worth the air you breathe!"** That was the roar of the huge enraged kitsune that was ravaging the land on Konoha's doorstep.

The shinobi of Konoha fought to stop it advancing any further, but did so in vain. The rest of the civilians had been evacuated in the opposite direction in which the beast was coming from and those that were not were either dead of going to be dead. The fox was not inside the village but the tremors created destroyed buildings and trapped people in them and the terrible chakra emitted was poisoning civilians unused to the amounts of chakra invading their bodies.

Trying to stop the animal was like trying to stop a force of nature- how do you stop waves on a beach, how do you stop the earth from crumbling in an earthquake. With a swing of its tail and a stomp of its leg trees several centuries old were demolished and lakes drained. The chakra techniques employed were absorbed into the pulsating hide of the beast and tendrils of chakra whipped out striking at any close enough who dared to use such techniques on it. This was not to mention the mind-numbing, shock inducing killer intent that was generated by the fox.

The clans all tried to use their bloodlines in attempts to delay the Kyuubi's advance. The Yamanaka flung their minds at it to try to over power the mind of the beast and turn it away but the mad animalistic thought processes were too alien to comprehend and drove them mad. Those with dojutsu activated at the beast were affected by the chakra and resulted in destroyed blood vessels of the eyes and ruptured chakra pathways to the brain killing the clan members. The bugs of the Aburame clan and the dogs of the Inuzuka clan turned on their masters driven crazy by the malignant chakra emitted from the fox. Indeed those without kekkei genkai and those who did not activate them stood better chance of surviving the encounter than those with.

An exhausted jounin saw the flagging spirits of his comrades and tried to give them heart.

"The Hokage will come. We only need to hold off the Kyuubi until he arrives. For Konoha!" All of those present had fought and survived in the 3rd Great Shinobi War. They were used to putting their lives on the line for their village but never had they faced such an impossible opponent. All knew that it would be unlikely that they would survive this encounter but were encouraged by the jounin's words. They would find it in themselves to give the last push in this battle. If they survived then good, but if they didn't then at least they knew they had tried. It was a feeling that all were used to so giving one last roar as one they moved.

"FOR KONOHA!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile in the Hokage's Tower a lone ANBU guarded a door inscribed with seals. The seals glowed rhythmically with a black light. The ANBU had orders to to allow the door to open for any circumstance from the outside. If the door opened before the seal was deactivated there would be serious consequences. So far the occupants of the room had been in sequestered for about an hour.

Inside the room two men were working furiously- well one was and the other leaned against the seal-covered wall watching the other work. Both were fatigued because to them they had spent 12 hours in the room.

The first man was hunched over a desk scribbling away, ink splattering everywhere. He had spiky blonde hair and had sapphire blue eyes. He wore a standard jounin flak jacket with the green and gold stars with ANBU grade trousers and blue shinobi sandals. He also wore a red and gold braid on his right bicep indicating that he was a Fuuinjutsu Master, Ist class. The only thing unusual about his attire was a white cloak with flames on the bottom and the kanji for 'four' in the middle.

The second man was half in the shadows and his all black clothing only made him blend in further. He wore a half-face-mask, an eye-patch with thin black strings holding it in place running across his forehead and just above and below the ear, a bandanna concealing his hair, sleeveless form-fitting shirt revealing a black ANBU swirl with a red kanji for 'fire' next to it, full fingered gloves with metal back-of-hand plate and ANBU pants tucked into soft leather boots with steel toes. He also wore three pouches and wore leather braces in a cross on his chest, his katana sheathed handle down and nodaichi handle up. On top of all that he wore ANBU armour chest-plate, lower-arm and shin guards but in matte black instead. Altogether the scars, mask and eye patch gave him a dangerous look of a shinobi not to be crossed but the half-lidded visible eye and fondness with which he watched his friend's scrabbling around softened the image a tad.

As if sensing his companion's amusement the blonde man looked up and gave the ANBU a glare, though it was ruined by the black spotted face and ink moustache on the upper-lip where he had unconsciously stroked earlier. "What do you think you're doing? You are just as good as this as I am. You aren't in here to just look pretty you know... not that you do..."

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but what can I, a lowly ANBU, do that the great leader of Konohagakure no Sato cannot?" asked the ANBU in a perfectly serious tone, ignoring the last muttered comment. The Hokage's eyebrow twitched at the title. "Did I say something wrong Hokage-sama? You have a twitch Hokage-sama."

The blonde continued twitching then his eyes gained a mischievous glint. He jumped up from his seat and pointed at his companion proclaiming dramatically, "ah ha! You just called me your great leader. And so as your great leader I order you to look over the seal."

In a monotone he replied, "of course Hokage-sama. You just needed only to say the word Hokage-sama. My will is yours to command Hokage-sama... you're still twitching Hokage-sama." As he walked over to the table you could see a definite amused look in his eye and his grey eye light with laughter.

The jounin fell to his knees and raised his hands beseeching to the heavens. "Why Kami did you have to give me such a cheeky Shikikan (Commander) for a friend. Why?!"

The ANBU snorted at his friend's antics. This was one of the reasons why he made such a good leader- being able to create a light atmosphere with only a few words and yet not over do it. The commander glanced at the seal and immediately whipped out a fine brush and began to fill in several runes and seals on the chakra-dissolvable sealing paper.

"Yare yare baka-Yondaime-sama. You missed out the fire and wind seal interspersed between the isaz, ehwaz and fehu runes. They will prevent the Kyuubi from manipulating yo-... the vessel's thoughts."

The Yondaime looked at the new seal. "Ah, so that was why... arigato Seimei," he clapped the ANBU on the shoulder and resumed his previous scribbling, "so this goes there... and that..."

Surreptitiously the ANBU waved a gloved hand and as if by magic the ink stains disappeared, _the seal is nearly finished and we can't have you looking like you have just fought a war with ink, can we Minato-sempai?_

Still writing away Minato talked to Seimei, "you have to properly teach me those runes properly someday 'mei-kun. They are damn useful as the seals in the room shows..." he rambled on and Seimei just blocked it out, this time his gaze on his superior was sad and yet contained pride.

_you know that you'll not live through this night senpai... and yet I'd be disappointed in you if that were not the case_

His musings were interrupted by an insistent tingling in the back of his neck. Directing a smidgen of chakra to a miniscule seal on his collar-bone he listened to the incoming message.

:Shikikan-sama. This is Go-Daishou (5th Brigadier). The Beast has breached the outer perimeter. I have sent squads 10 throught to 18 to hold it off. We are getting slaughtered out here. Requesti-: the transmission cut off suddenly.

Seimei shifted slightly, his game face on, eye completely serious. The shift caught the attention of the Hokage who shut up and sobered. "The outer perimeter." he stated rather than asked. "Hold it off then. I will be finished soon. I will also need to get m-my son." he caught himself. He Hesitated but eventually did place a firm hand on the shoulder of his ANBU Shikikan and looked seriously into the lone slate grey eye, "be careful my friend. It is not like the battle of Grass Valley... I am counting on you to see this night through."

Seimei didn't answer and only saluted. He snapped his hand out had a red cloak flew from his hook into his hand and he fastened it on. From the shadows a huge black wolf slinked out and sat nest to her master. Giving one last look to his old friend Seimei turned sharply on his heel, and keeping a hand on his companion, they both disappeared without a sound.

Behind them they heard a whispered call, "Gokooun o inorimasu (Good Luck). Live up to your name Senshi Seimei."

* * *

The pair apparated to the spot where he last had contact with his 5th brigadier, the chakra-magic hybrid communication link providing accurate directions to the officer. They were behind the humongous chakra entity and in the middle of a swathe of blackened forest where there were once luscious green trees. He found the shinobi dead and burnt, the smell of cooked flesh repugnant to his nose, but thankfully alive. Grateful that he at least had one person saved he took out a stasis seal and channeled a mixture of magic and chakra into the seal to temporarily halt any life processes- the seal would keep the person 'alive' for longer than a insistere condicio spell, then activated a small coin portkey which he dropped onto the brigadier and the unconscious man disappeared in a swirl of lights into his ANBU office away from the danger zone.

With his subordinate out of the way he straightened and cast a sonorous over his voice box and whistled. The kitsune looked up from its onward plough and looked for where the noise came from. Just as it was about to turn around another noise distracted it. A red-necked falcon gave a piercing screech and dive-bombed the nose of the behemoth and managed to create a deep gash on its muzzle which didn't seem to be healing. The bird flapped away just in time.

Seimei called out to his familiar. :Enough! Ken come back:

:No aniki. Kyuubi-teme killed my mate. Must. Have. Vengen-:

:Yamero (stop)! You cannot do so if you are dead:

Ken saw reason and instead dived for his master but pulled away in time to land comfortable on a reinforced shoulder. Seimei had put the momentary distraction to good use and had gone through several hand seals in blistering speed whilst gathering some chakra from a Ryu kanji on his right bicep. He slammed his right hand to the ground and a huge summoning circle blossomed from that point as an impossible speed, _Ryuu Kuchiyose_. A great plume of smoke erupted from the centre of the summoning seal and Seimei felt himself rising up into the air. All the while Seimei kept his eye on the fox but directed his thoughts to his wolf companion.

:Tsuki-hime... ready?:

:hai:

The wolf jumped off next into mid-air and summoned her internal magic like her master had taught her _engorgio_. Immediately the black wolf began expanding and enlarging until she was as tall as the Kyuubi. Seimei had also stopped getting higher and the chakra smoke disappeared revealing a huge golden dragon. Seimei was standing on the snout of the great animal and turned his back to the fox and went into a respectful crouch (ANBU greeting)- left knee on the ground, right knee up, hands on the ground, head bowed.

**"Ah... Young-Drake. Long time no see."**

"Hai Ryuutama-sama. I request that you aid me in holding off the Kyuubi for a while."

The golden dragon looked past his summoner and stared at the fox. **"She is not the Head of the Kitsune clan, merely the mate... very well. You have my aid."**

Shocked at the revelation Seimei put that piece of information to the back of his mind for the moment and focussed on the present. He flipped onto the head of the dragon and used chakra to secure his position behind the right eye-brow ridge, Ken staying perfectly composed on his shoulder. The Dragon launched into the air. Seimei saw that the shinobi on the ground had not taken advantage of the She-fox's distraction and left the danger zone. Shaking his head at the stupidity and lack of self-preservation he shouted out to them, the voice-enhancing spell still activated.

"Shinobi retreat to the inner perimeter!"

The shinobi got out of the way just in time as the huge dragon, one and a half times as large as the kitsune-mate, landed with barely a thump in front of her and flared his great wings creating a golden shield of skin, muscle and bone but was as hard as metal.

In tandem all three attacked. Ryuutama and Tsuki seeking to grapple and hold the fox down whilst Seimei shot spell after spell at the beast and maintaining a thick shield of magic between their bodies and the chakra entity as it was their protection against the causticity of the enraged fox's chakra. Inspite of this Tsuki and Seimei were starting to feel the effects of the chakra. Ryuutama was feeling fine because as the ruler over all summons and beasts the chakra caused him no harm but he could only remain on the material plane for as long as his summoner was conscious. Most of the wounds inflicted on the fox were gradually healing because of the increasing ferocity and anger at their intervention but because magic and chakra were like opposites the lingering magic in the wounds prevented instant healing.

To the shinobi behind all they could hear was deafening roars and howls but the Kyuubi was not getting past the golden shield so the survivors began to get a feeling of hope. They might live through this night. Most of the shinobi, not ANBU, had never seen the elusive ANBU Shikikan, only ever known of his existence but for the ANBU present the display only served to raise their commander to even greater heights. They knew that Kuro Ookami had been the commander for over two years already since before the 3rd War ended and all knew of his incredible mission quota and accomplishment of not having lost a single squad member in all his five years of service. He was also known for his title of Konoha no Yurei (Ghost of Konoha) for his ability to complete a mission without any witnesses and extraneous killings and was rumoured to have been the operative to personally assassinate the Tsuchikage inside his own office in the middle of Iwa thus ending the war. All this information and hearsay was passed between those present and the legend of the ANBU Shikikan rose incredibly on this day.

Seimei was oblivious to all of this and was fighting to keep standing through the assault of the malicious chakra. They had been engaged for only about 20 minutes but to Seimei it felt like hours. He knew he was feeling the edges of magical exhaustion because he was maintaining large shields as well as directing spells of his own. _Minato-senpai, you had better arrive soon because I do not know how long I can keep this up._

As if the mere thought had called him Minato arrived on the Gama boss summon with a kage bushin holding an orange bundle. The waiting shinobi all cheered. The Hokage was here, he would save them.

The large summon landed with a thump behind the combatants away from the village. Minato was already going through hand seals and was gathering a lot of chakra. As if sensing the end of her life was nigh the kitsune fought even more ferociously but all three gave it their last push to hold the animal in place as the window of opportunity would be very small. Seimei's exhaustion was showing because the shield was flickering and Seimei and Tsuki were gaining chakra burns where the red chakra managed to escape.

Minato finished his string of seals. "SHIKI FUUJIN!"

A ghostly spectre materialised behind the Yondaime. It's face was more than enough to strike fear into the most fool-hardy of hearts- white long hair, red horns set on a purple face with beady black baleful eyes and a mouthful of sharp point teeth gripping a large tanto. If that wasn't enough then the deathly aura would definitely scare the living daylights out of them. Animals were more susceptible to the aura (as opposed to the image) than humans and so Gamabunta fought to remain still with the Shinigami hovering above him.

Kyuubi's mate went slack upon feeling the chilling Shinigami's chakra. She knew that the spectre was coming for her and there would be no escape. Although humans were not as effected by the aura, because he was near magical exhaustion and was suffering from a case of chakra poisoning Seimei as feeling the effects more and it was all he could do to remain in position. Ryuutama only felt slightly uncomfortable in the presenjce of the death god because his status as the ruler od all beasts was just below that of the god.

When asked years later on the events of 10th October the sealing would be just as vivid in his memory as when it occurred. He could recall was the agonising call of the Kitsune as the death god pulled her soul out of her body and into the waiting vessel, the son of Namikaze Minato. The body if the kitsune just disintergrated, the soul, that held the chakra entity in a physical form, having left. Using his false crystal eye he had been able to see with great clarity the look of pain on his friend's face with the god's arm through his chest and the look of sorrow and tears as he sealed the the bijuu into the new jinchuuriki.

The kage bushin disappeared as the strength of his creator left. Minato fell to his knees as he cradled his son. It seemed that the death ogod was not without mercy and had just left a hideous looking seal where his ghostly arm had pierced his chest but had allowed him some final time in the material world. Seimei saw him speak to his summon and Gamabunta nodded.

Seimei knew he had to be there for his sensei, leader but most importantly his friend. Peripherally he noticed that Tsuki had shrunk back into her usual form and lay panting on the ground recovering.

He forced himself to bite his inner cheek to draw blood and touch on seals in his face-mask and channel chakra through his tongue to release food pills, pepperup pills and one jounin soldier pill. _quietus _he waved a hand over his throat. Regaining strength he said to his summon, "arigato gozaimasu Ryuutama-sama. I will be going to Minato-senpai."

Having said this he gathered a right mix of chakra and magic. This created a special type of energy which fuelled his next technique. _shunpo_ he thought and in a blur of colour he flashed to on top of Gamabunta's nose. He gave the saddened boss summon a greeting before jumping onto his head to see his friend.

Minato glanced up from his son, face pale. He managed to crack a grin, recognising his friend. "Ohayo 'mei-kun... great job there, managed to get the Kyuubi good," he paused to cough, blood leaking from the mouth. Seimei had pushed his wolf mask to the side his his head so that his face was visible-well the bits not covered by a mask anyway. He also knelt down and gripped Minato by the upper arms. He didn't have the heart to tell his friend that there was another 9 tailed fox out somewhere and the sealed fox was only the mate not the legendary Kitsune that was supposed to guard Hi no Kuni.

"Hai... you also did good Hokage-sama..."

"... don't call me that... sorry for taking so long," ever the shinobi, even in death, he noticed the numerous chakra burns on the skin and armour. "it seems that little Naruto-chan will not have a mother. Kushina-hime had serious bleeding of the womb... if Tsunade was here maybe...."

"Aa... you'll be with her soon... she's waiting."

Suddenly frantic Minato freed one hand and held Seimei's in a death grip. "Promise me you'll be there for him."

There was no way that Seimei could refuse. "Of course Yondaime-sama. I will always look out for Naruto, I promise."

Minato released his grip, satisfied, his son would have a protector. The promise of his stoic ANBU Shikikan was priceless. He was a man of his word and would seek to carry out his promise no matter what. Suddenly it seemed all the energy left him, he started to fall. Seimei caught bith father and son in time and with one arm he held the baby and with the other he gently lowered Minato to the top of Gamabunta's head, then on second thought he carried both down so they were on mother earth and lowered Minato on the ground. He was aware that his summon was still present and both boss summons were standing by peering at them and especially the new vessel.

Minato was rambling now. "... why am I so cold... 'mei, where are you?... why is it so dark?..."

Tears leaked from his lone eye but he was able to keep the tremor in his voice to a minimum. "I am here Hokage-sama... don't worry... you rest for now, everything will be alright..." he placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Suddenly the eyes focused on him and was momentarily contained his usual sharpness.

"'Course it will be alright. I am the great Hokage, am I not?... and don't call me that..." his eyes roamed Seimei's face as if trying to commit it to memory then he frowned in consternation, "where is your mouth 'mei... actually I don't think I've ever seen your mouth..." as he continued to mutter, his voice getting fainter and fainter.

Seimei acquiesced with his request. In fact no one bar his deceased blood-brother and team mate had seen his face. He pulled down the black seal covered cloth and deactivated the memory erase of his face. For the first time in many years another saw his whole face. It was quite handsome with defined cheeks and a serious mouth that made him look older than his years. The smooth skin with only a few frown lines marred only by several silvery scars, legacies of torture as a POW in the previous war.

Minato's eye's widened at the revelation. His hand twitched as if to touch but his arms felt strangely leaden but Seimei noticed and grabed his right hand. Shakily he traced the scars. His face bloomed into a smile, "ha!... I, Namikaze... Minato have seen... a sight most kunoichi's... would kill to see..." he looked up from his fingers and glanced towards his son. Sensing his desire Seimei lowered the Naruto so that he was level with Minato's head. Minato turned his head slowly and stared into the bluest of blue eyes of his son, who stared back. Minato's smile became sadder but no less proud, "Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto... never forget, I will always love you..." he leaned forward a little and kissed his son on the forehead. He exhaled his last breath and closed his eyes, soul leaving him, and died with a smile on his face.

Seimei bowed his head in respect and closed his eyes allowing himself to grieve, "sayonara... Minato-senpai." He was startled from his mood by insistant cries from chibi-Naruto who had been upset from his sleep when he had been lowered and felt a strange cold object pressing in his forehead. Now he was getting cold, despite the thick orange blanket.

Seimei gave a crooked smile. At least there was one good thing this day. Life would go on and there was hope for the future in this child. He pulled up his mask then his ANBU one and composed himself. There would be time to mourn later, now someone needed his comfort. He picked up the baby, "hush child." He slowly rocked the baby and applied heating charms to the blanket, but not before peeking at the seal. The seal was glowing red and stood out on the baby's navel but seemed to be disappearing. At this rate the seal would be complete and secure in 72 hours indicating the mass of chakra present even though it was only the mate and not the actual Kyuubi Kitsune. The smooth motion and warm atmosphere calmed the babe and he was soon asleep, a picture of innocence as opposed to the screaming hell raiser a minute earlier.

**"Ahem..."** Seimei glanced up at Gamabunta. He was shocked when the large mass began to shrink and take on a human form. He was dressed in a blue sleeveless yukata with the kanji for 'shrimp' in the back, black shinobi pants and sandals. He was smoking a pipe and carried a dosu (yakuza aword) in a white sheath at his hip. He had a small white gotee and looked like a human except for his yellow eyes with a black bloby pupil. He carefully traced the three whisker-like marks of being a kitsune jinchuukiri and said benevolently, **"so this is Minato's tadpole, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto... he will be great like his old man."** he looked up and looked piercingly into Seimei's stormy-grey lone eye. Inspite of all his occulmency barriers Seimei felt as if his soul was stripped naked and intentions clear as day. He had never felt so exposed since the signing of the Ryuu Kuchiyose Kanko Hon (Dragon Summoning Scroll). **"Ahem... you'll do Senshi****-san. The tadpole is in good hands." **He reached over to expose Naruto's right arm and using a bit of his chakra created a small frog like tattoo. This was not the same as his own summoning tattoo but was more of a promise. Next Gamabunta took out a small scroll and handed it over to Seimei who looked over it, sensing magic then turned puzzled to the boss summon. **"I am trusting the true Gama Kuchiyose Kanko Hon to you for safe keeping. The tadpole is to sign it when he becomes genin... it is magically shrunk by the way,"** at his surprised flicker of chakra the summon gave a booming laugh and clapped him on the shoulder, **"yes, all beings have the potential to utilise magic, not just the ones bonded to you." **With that the summon disappeared in a poof of smoke.

His own summon had not transformed but stretched his great neck down to the ground. **"Bunta has given you a great honour young-Drake. It is only in exceptional cases that another is allowed to be the keeper of the contract who is not the summoner of that clan."** The Dragon King also looked at Naruto. **"A turbulent life he will live... raise him well Seimei. I will-"**

He didn't get to finish as another spine-chilling roar erupted from the opposite side of the village. The side of the village where the rest of Konoha's populace were evacuated.

* * *

The scene of dying Minato was hard to write. Maybe too long?

A cliffie to keep things interesting :p

XX

List of spells and techniques 

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

M: **Insistere Condicio**: Stasis spell

M: **Sonorous**: Voice Increasing spell

M: **Quietus**: Voice decreasing spell

XX

C: **Kage Bushin no Jutsu**: Shadow Clone technique

XX

CM: **Shunpo**: Flash Step

XX

What do you think? Good? No good?

All comment welcome.

Constructive critism please.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Shadow**

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech"**

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- morse code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

_**Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts**  
_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 2

Both looked up at the roar. Ryuutama rose up to look over the trees whilst Seimei used his enhanced false eye to look through all objects. What both saw horrified them The true Kyuubi kitsune, Head of the Kitsune clan was heading straight for the evacuated Konoha civilians. It was even large than his mate, about one an a half times and almost equally as large as his own summon. None would get away in time. Their Hokage had just passed on having completed a suicide sealing technique sealing away his mate. Now there was another one and a second seal would take hours to draw, but they didn't even have 10 minutes.

Whatever the consequences, as ANBU Shikikan, and Hokage-stand-in, he would defend his people as best as he could. Even if he did perish there would hopefully be some survivors and Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, would be among them to guide them.

Quickly he created a shadow clone and transferred the sleeping baby to it. The clone held onto the cooling body of Namikaze Minato, the late Yondaime Hokage, and Tsuki also kept her paw on the device as the portkey was activated which sent them to the Hokage's Office. With his responsibilities out of the way he hopped onto the head of his summon.

"It seems Ryuutama-sama that our duty is not yet done."

The Dragon launched into the air and swiftly made way to the danger zone.

_sonorous_ "Move the civilians away from the Kitsune!" shouted Seimei to the shinobi who stared with dismay at yet another beast that was even larger than the previous. The shout galvanised them into action and shocked them out of their mounting terror. They now had an order and that pushed their fear away a bit as they had something to occupy them. _quietus_

This time the King of all beasts landed with a thump directly in front of the Kyuubi making it jerk back a few spaces lest it's nose get squashed. He also flared his wings to create a shield. Unlike before where the fox had paused momentarily this fox charged straight ahead. The cogs in the dragons distinguished mind started to turn. Although Ryuutama fought back fine Seimei was feeling the edges of exhaustion and serious case of chakra poisoning and a second source of caustic chakra was not helping his condition.

A fierce bout of white hot fire shot out from Ryuutama's mouth making the Kyuubi retreat several meters. That was enough for the dragon to voice his suspicions.

**"Kyuubi-dono is under a genjutsu."**

That was a possibility but Seimei had a few doubts. "How? Kitsune are renowned masters of illusions. They would surely recognise one for what it was, surely?"

**"Hai, but the shock of loosing a mate could distort such reasonings."**

"That is true but being a chakra entity it would recognise a genjutsu immediately due to the foreign chakra."

**"Hai, but not all genjutsus need chakra..." **He left the sentence open ended for his summoner to puzzle out. He was not the youngest ever gene, chuunin, jounin and ANBU Shikikan for nothing.

Suddenly Seimei had a brain-wave. There was a sharp intake of breath, "you don't mean... magic illusion?" Ryuutama gave no answer as he was engaging the Kitsune poured more chakra into a stronger shield and sat down in a meditative position, keeping himself in place with chakra. He needed to ground himself.

Keeping only some of his consciousness aware of the surroundings he sent the rest of his mind into a black oblivion and opened himself up towards all the world's magic. In this state he could sense all the magic that was in all living things. Most things only gave out a small amount of magic signature, even the Sandaime because he didn't utilise that source of energy, but his summon and the Kyuubi gave out a lot of magic. Clearing those miscellaneous thoughts he searched for the Konoha Magic Node.

He had found that he could access the world's magic ley-lines and nodes after his imprisonment in Iwa several years ago. The nodes were the source of many a phenomenon in the shinobi world. After a few minutes of searching he managed to find the node. It was deep within the earth and encompassed most of Konoha and was a roiling mass of intense power. It was dangerous to take such power directly from the source but viable, if you had the proper training. And Seimei did.

He teased a tendril of power up from the node and also extended a link from his own core. Carefully he joined the two and siphoned off the energy to refill his own core. Unknown to him he glowed with a holy white aura set against a black sky and was totally visible to the people behind. Seimei was also unaware that he had gained several more grey hairs to add to his collection of already grey temples. Normally this wouldn't happen if his core still contained about 25 percent of his own magic as he was over tha age of 13- he had gained the other grey hairs from a similar procedure when he was 12 and a POW.

With his core full to bursting he carefully shrank the node tendril back before detaching his link. He was ready.

Seimei opened his eyes and stood up, faintly glowing with power. He raised both arms to chest height and pronounced a spell, "Finite Incantatum!" Twin jets of blue tinged white magic shot out from his foci-gloves. The energy encompassed the enraged kitsune and glowed once, twice before disappearing. Immediately the turbulent red chakra that formed the hide of the fox became calmer and more fur-like.

The fox also stilled and looked most comical stopping in mid-chomp of the dragon's leg blinking furiously as if not knowing what to make of his situation. Finally as if the memory of the past half hour came back to him he released the limb with a yelp and lay prone on the forest floor, head submissive on the ground and paws over his muzzle.

The Dragon king chuckled. It wasn't often that he saw the proud Kitsune lord cowed. **"It seems I was correct Kitsune-dono... Explain."**

Understanding that though Ryuutama was a fair and just king, his patience only went so far. The Fox disappeared and in its place a tall, black haired man, dressed in red battle armour appeared.

**"Hai**** Taikun-sama **(Emperor)**. I woke to find my mate gone and my kits dead. I immediately became enraged and sought the identity of the perpetrator. The only identification was a smell of fire, a diseased soul... and a leaf hitai-ate. I then set off to Konohagakure no Sato incognito however when I arrived I then felt the bond with my mate disappear. That was when I went into an uncontrollable rage and-... Moushiwake arimasen deshita **(I am very sorry)**. "**

The dragon leaned down so that his head was level with the humanoid fox. He gave a snort of amusement and acceptance of the apology

**"Nonsense. I haven't had such a good work out in years. All is forgiven Kitsune-dono. You were under the influence of a genjutsu. Give your thanks to the young-drake who freed you."**

Seimei hopped off from the head of his summon and steadied himself before he stumbled. He had to conceal a wince as his tender palms under the gloves touched the hard scales. He was fatigued from expending his energies in the time-manipulation seals and from fighting two large enraged beasts. His normally immaculate ANBU armour and cloak showed a lot of damage from the caustic chakra. The Kyuubi turned to his rescuer and gave a deep formal bow.

**"Domo arigato gozaimasu ANBU-san. I thank you from freeing me from the genjutsu. I would have been immensely sad to have found that I have destroyed the village in the country of which I am guardian of." **Seimei said nothing and only nodded. The Kyuubi then turned to his King. **"Taikun-sama. What has become of my mate. She cannot be dead because the bond has not totally disappeared however I am not able to communicate with her."**

"I will explain Kitsune-dono. Minato-senpai sealed your mate into a living vessel in a contract with the Shinigami. She is behind extensive seals and due to the aid of the death god it is unlikely that she will be able to be freed. Her physical body had disintergrated but her soul is present so that is why the bond can still be felt."

**"You are very knowledgeable about bonds young kit."**

"Because I have several of my own-" Seimei coughed and to his dismay he tasted blood within his mask. Ryuutama looked at his summoner in concern. Kyuubi sensed the foreign beast chakra within the human, which was incompatible, and was poisoning him. It wasn't as bad as it could be because the magic that had flowed in his body had burned away most of the chakra leaving only a few bits.

Kyuubi strode swiftly over and ran glowing red hands across the human's body drawing out the last remaining bits of chakra. Instantly Seimei felt much better but the damage would take a few days to heal.

"Arigato."

**"Think nothing of it. I have a request. If you ever meet my mate give her this."** To Seimei's shock the fox looked him straight in the eye and pushed a package across. He was unable to view the contents of the package but could feel it was there within his occlumency barriers. Once done he gave Seimei a bow and offered him a scroll, **"dozo** (please- when giving something)**."**

Seimei pocketed the scroll for viewing later. Once the gift was accepted the Fox Lord straightened and giving his king a salute he disappeared.

**"Well done young-Drake. I also must depart. Summon my son sometime. He misses playing with you... Until next time."** Seimei gave his summon a bow and Ryuutama touched Seimei on the brow with a feeler then the huge golden dragon disappeared creating a plume of smoke.

Suddenly the adrenaline of the past few hours disappeared leaving Seimei feeling weak kneed. He dearly wanted to collapse right here, right now, into sweet oblivion. _But I'll be damned if I keel over in front of the whole populace... Tsunade-hime would gripe but hopefully a genin soldier pill will not do that much harm _Using the lingering blood on his mask he felt his way with his tongue to a seal and dispensed a genin soldier pill. The pill only created enough chakra to barely fill 5 percent of his reserves but it was sufficient to ward of any stumbles for the time being.

By the time the smoke disappeared Seimei was adequately recovered enough to walk back to the village.

* * *

By the time he got back the sun was on the horizon. He was accompanied by the mate of his wolf companion, the Beta of her pack (Tsuki was the Alpha), whom it seemed had been ordered by Tsuki to be with him. He could sense several other pack members flanking them in the forest. Ken was asleep, perched on his arm, having been lulled to sleep by his smooth walk and a constant stroking of the feathers. His clone had kept him updated of the status of Minato's son and the seal. It seemed that no one had yet entered the office indicating that a successor to the Hokage-ship had not yet been chosen.

He sent a tendril of legilimency towards the wolf. :Ookami-san. only you will be allowed to enter the village. Tell your pack to return: The wolf replied with a sound of acknowledgment. He turned and gave a series of yips and growls. Soon the surrounding wolves left as they approached the gate.

He arrived at the West gate of Konoha and was heartened to see that there were a pair of Jounin on gate duty. Despite the harrowing events of the night previously Konoha would be ready in case of an enemy salute. He recognised the two shinobi to be former ANBU who had removed their masks only a few months previously. They showed their past role by falling into the ANBU salute position.

"Shikikan-sama."

"Ah... Ishi-san and Aoi-san, formerly Tsurugi and Hebi... correct?"

"Hai."

"Well done for staying alert after last night. What is the damage?"

"Many buildings collapsed creating fires. We are still finding casualties. All civilians are forbidden from entering homes until they are deemed safe and are staying in the Konoha Central Park. All chuunin and genin and to participate in recovery and building work. All jounin and ANBU are to resume their duties and carry out misisons. The biggest worry is that part of the Konoha Main Hospital collapsed."

"I assume that there is a full council meeting at the moment?"

"Hai."

"Very well. I will be in the Hokage's Office if I am needed." Seimei gave the jounins a salute and walked into Konoha.

As the jounin had reported there was a lot of damage and curls of smoke rose from several piles of rubble. The only people on the street were shinobi. They rushed to and fro carrying out their jobs to return Konoha back to normal as soon as possible. It took a while before the shinobi noticed him but when they did it was as if someone had pressed a pause button. Everyone stopped and stared. it was quite comical to watch actually as most genins' jaws went slack and their eyes bulged out. It wasn't until he reached the Hokage Tower that the shock wore off. As he entered the double doors of the tower there was a huge cheer.

The tower was deserted except for a lone ANBU guard. Even the jounin secretary was out on missions. He gave a nod to the ANBU and walked into the office. The office was extremely large, enough to hold 30 people comfortably, and painted in a calming beige colour. Directly opposite the door was a very large mahogany desk that was covered in paperwork- evidently Minato had put everything down upon the sighting of the Kitsune. To the right of the desk were couches and a low coffee table for guests and informal talks. Behind the couches opposite the desk were the paintings of the past Hokages and to the left of the desk were many cabinets and shelves full of many folders and scrolls. Most of the wall behind the desk was several windows that stretched from the ceiling to hip level and offered a spectacular view of the village.

His clone had set Naruto down on the couch next to him and had laid Minato on the couch opposite. He had patched Tsuki up as much as possible and she lay on the floor at his feet. Upon seeing his creator the clone gave a nod and dismissed himself. The knowledge of the past few hours since its creation flowed into Seimei's fatigued mind. Thankfully the knowledge was not taxing on the brain and didn't give him pause. It seemed chibi-Naruto had remained asleep and regular checks on the seal showed that the integration process was going along fine. Seimei was loathe to get up from the comfortable couch but he had one last duty to perform for his had to clean him up for his funeral.

Seimei waved his hands and all the dirt and exertion before his death disappeared. The slight smile and clean attire made him look as if he was just taking a nap as he was prone to do when going though the piles of paperwork. He also checked all his pockets for scrolls and such things and found a scroll addressed to him.

[Letter]

Dear Seimei-kun,

The first time I saw you you were just a brat of four years old due to take the Chuunin Selection  
Exams in Iwa. When you approached Ero-Sennin and I to ask sensei to be the examiner for the  
Fuuinjustu Journey-man Status exam I was so gutted.

I was on the same level as a toddler who by rights should have been playing with rubber kunai!  
Ero-Sennin teased me for ages after you left.

But afterwards I found you to be a true Tensai (genius) and the long in depth conversations  
about seals took away my reservations. Despite the 12 years age gap I found myself sharing  
almost everything with you.

You have always had my back- remember when you caught me after the use of my 1000 kunai  
Hiraishin no Jutsu on the Sougen no Akuchi (Blood Steppes) and cast a magic illusion so that I  
didn't loose face whilst you half-carried, half-dragged me back to camp?

I have one last favour I ask of you. Please look after my son. It seems Kushina-hime will not be  
able to. I have given instructions to Old Monkey Face, as he is the most likely to retake office,  
for Naruto-chan to be looked to as a hero- for that is what he is, however I am not as naive to  
believe that it will happen.

I want you to be there for him. You are the brother I never had and would love you to be his  
surrogate uncle. My marriage to Kushi-hime and subsequent child is not something that I want  
the public to know about. Vessels are notoriously invulnerable to injuries but I doubt even a  
jinchuukiri of the Kyuubi can survive a beheading...

Because of the secret marriage I have left all of the Namikaze and Uzumaki assets to you in the  
hope that Naruto will one day inherit them. Due to the dangers of the Namikaze heritage I wish  
that Naruto not know of at least his paternal line until he is able to protect himself.

You have always been older than your years and have to say that it has been a great pleasure  
working with you over the years.

I am sorry of the burden I have placed on you but this is the only way I can think of that will  
ensure my son's well being.

Take care my friend.

Namikaze Minato

ps. I do not know how well 'kashi-kun will take these events. Rin-chan has family, but not him.  
Just make sure he doesn't go off his head...

pps. Underneath are sealed a letter to Naruto-chan when he knows, Kakshi-kun, Jiraiya-sensei  
and Hiruzen-sama.

[Letter end]

Seimei gave out a small sigh. It was true. He really did think of Minato as a brother. After the death of Kenshin only the constant companionship of Minato and Honoka-chan kept him sane. Seimei's head came up so sharply there was an audible crack. _Honoka-chan!_ His thoughts suddenly turned to his last remaining person of his genin cell. She was a iryo-nin (medic-nin) and was most likely in the hospital dealing with the wounded when part of it collapsed. He just hoped to Kami she wasn't in that part of the building. She, Kenshin and himself were the genin cell that was younger than the rest and nick-named the Tensai-cell. Honoka was 8, Kenshin was 6 and himself 5 when they graduated and placed under the leadership of Hatake Sakumo, Konoha no Shiro Kiba (White Fang of Konoha).

Sakumo committed seppuku a year after they became chuunin, Kenshin died after their last mission before they were due to take the jounin exams by Kumo ANBU signalling the start of the 3rd Shinobi War, and Honoka was crippled from the waist downwards on the same mission and became a full time medic in the village rather than be on field missions as a field medic. After that disastrous mission he was picked to enter ANBU and had been with the corps ever since leading double lives as Senshi Seimei, tensai, elite jounin of Konoha, survivor of 2 months torture in Iwa and remaining sane, and Kuro Ookami, ANBU Shikikan and the Hokage's right-hand-man.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a jounin about to knock on the door. With his articificial eye in place of his left eye, which had been ripped out by the insane Sandaime Tsuchikage (Seimei smirked viciously as he remembered the death throes of the man when he carried out the assasination), one of the properties he had placed on the diamond ball was that it could see though objects.

Tucking the scroll into a pocket securely he called out before the jounin could knock. "Come in!"

"Shikikan-sama. The council requests your presence... along with the dem-" the jounin stiffened and shut up at the suffocating killing intent (KI) that was focused on him.

Seimei was tired and irritable and he would not abide by anyone who called his charge a demon. He ground out in a soft menacing voice- he found that this method worked better than shouting to get his message across. "Never call him that ever. You will not like the consequences," the jounin paled. This was a threat coming from the man who had managed to defeat the second Kyuubi, who was even larger than the first, and did so without dying (remember, no one could see what exactly was going on because of Ryuutama's wing shields). What ever he could do would not be pretty. "He is as human as any other... understood?" The terrified jounin didn't say a word. Seimei's irritation rose to greater heights and the KI increased. "UNDERSTOOD?" it sounded more like a growl than anything. The jounin realised that he had just succeeded in angering the man further and paled even more, his pallor resembling old parchment, and gave a petrified meep and fell to his knees and touched his head on the floor in complete submission.

"H-hai Shikikan-sama."

"Dismissed. I know the way." Seimei replied and turned his back on the jounin. The poor man took his chance and positively fled the building. Behind him the ANBU guard gave a snort of amusement as he had heard every word and happened to totally agree with his commander. Tsuki who had been waked by the KI and her master's emotion gave a chuff of laughter.

:did you see the baka's face! Ha ha ha! He couldn't get away fast enough:

Seimei gave a wry grin, his irritation going away, :hai, I am pretty intimidating I guess... but there was just the example of what I fear will be a general trend in the behaviour of the citizens. If a fully competent shinobi can act like that, what would the reactions of the civilians be?:

:hai, but Naru-pup will not be alone. He will have at least have you and my pack:

:arigato hime... now do you want to follow? Are you well enough to come?:

In answer the large wolf stood up and padded over to him, stood on her hind legs and gave his face, well mask, a lick. When she did so he could feel the lingering chakra signature of a chakra heal which his clone had evidently done. He gave a chuckle.

"Fine fine. There's no need to scrape the paint off the mask with your tongue. I'll just pick up Naruto-chan and we can leave."

* * *

The brief rest had done him good. He was able to stride down the street to the adjacent council building, which like the Hokage Tower, remained whole. He strode down the street at close to his normal speed and together with his slightly charred red cloak that billowed out behind him and two almost hip height larger-than-average black and grey wolves by his side people didn't hesitate to jump out of the way. Any of those who didn't get the hint and gave glares to the bright orange bundle in his arms got a dose of fear, in the form of KI, in return. Just before he entered the drab grey building there was a screech and Ken landed on his shoulder.

The building had two amphitheatre-like halls. The larger was for the full council for both civilian and shinobi members. The second and smaller one was solely for shinobi use. There wasn't one for only civilian councils. There was also one last secret council hall, which was more like a large room, for the War Council. Only the Hokage and ANBU Black Ops Shikikan could open the hidden door and as the name suggested the council only convened for wars and so the room was last used only a year previously for the last meeting at the end of the 3rd War in which he was already the commander.

He arrived at a pair of double doors. There were two ANBU guarding it and they fell into a salute when they saw him. He acknowledged them with a nod and stepped through the doors. His entrance went unnoticed to all but a few. It would seem that Sarutobi Hiruzen had been chosen as the replacement Hokage over Danzo who stood with an impassive expression but a brielf legilimency brush of his mind showed furious thoughts. The council, well the civilian part, were shouting and even from the opposite side of the hall Seimei could sense his tightly controlled chakra bubbling in response to his growing anger. The shinobi section looked equally annoyed and bored by the proceedings. Knowing that it would not do his leadership image any good if the newly renamed Hokage blew his cool so Seimei stepped into action.

Seimei deliberately closed the door and cast a subtle genjutsu to amplify the sound of a shutting door. The sound caught the attention of most of the people in the hall and the rest followed suit once they realised they were the only people shouting. Once he was sure they had all shut up and had their whole attention, he began walking forward in a measured pace. He placed each step carefully and with more focre than usual so that the click of his boot heel could be heard. The clicks echoed through the silent hall and he added a bit of magic to cause his cloak to move in an absent wind. The newborn was in the crook of his arm and hidden by his cloak.

He looked truly impressive in an all black attire and blood red cloak, with a regal falcon on his shoulder and two massive wolves by his side. It couldn't be seen but Seimei grinned and felt a bit of vindictive satisfaction at the civilians who shied away in fear from him and his wolves. He was sure one even pissed himself when Tsuki brushed herself against the gaudily dressed tub of lard. Sarutobi Hiruzen was akin to a grandfather to him and detested people who made his surrogate grandfather's life more difficult when he had already given so much.

He stopped in front of Sarutobi and gave a shallow bow, only tipping his torso forward slightly because of his charge. Ken hopped onto the armoured hand of the Hokage and enjoyed his stroking. "Hokage-sama." Seimei said in a smooth baritone.

"Ah... Ookami-Shikikan," Sarutobi's eyes conveyed his gratitude. "We were just finishing talking about the damage taken and budget distribution... I believe we are fnished. Are we not, council member Sourei?... unless you have something to add?" he asked with a slight edge to his voice.

The trader council woman was not without preservation instincts and faced with a cold Kami no Shinobi (God of Shinobi) and a terrifying ANBU with animals by his side that could easily rip her throat out. She stuttered out, "i-iie (no). I have nothing to add."

"Excellent. Now that my commander is here we can get an account of the events of the past 12 hours... Shikikan, if you please."

Seimei acquiesced and stepped up to address the whole hall. In an emotionless tone he began his tale.

"I was with Yondaime-sama when I got a notification of the Kitsune breaching the outer perimeter set up about 300 meters from the village wall. I immediately went to assist in holding off the Kitsune whilst the Hokage finished the seal. He arrived with a baby and using the Shiki Fuujin seal the Kitsune into the baby. After that another fox came and I went there. The second Kitsune was defeated by me and hre I am."

Almost all of the occupants in the hall face-faulted at th very brief description of events except for those who knew him. There was silence for several seconds then a brave civilian council member spoke up. "WHAT! Is that all you can say about two huge demons who arrived and caused thousands of billions of Ryo damage and killed thousands of people!"

"... hai. Hokage-sama called for a report. That is as far as much detail I will go with non-shinobi present."

The council man puffed up in outrage. "Do you know who you are talking to?"

"Hai," Seimei paused to search his mind for a name, "council man Hade-san, wealthy first son of a Metal trader... however you are not my Hokage and therefore have no jurisdiction over any of the Shinobi Force." Seimei peirced him with a glare, the yellow lenses of his mask glinting ominously.

The trader's son paled and clammed up. There was an awkward silence in the hall before the Hyuuga Clan Head, Hiashi, spoke up, voicing the question on the minds of most of the shinobi.

"Shikikan-sama, why were there two Kyuubi Kitsune?"

"Iie Hyuuga-dono. There was only one Kyuubi Kitsune. The first was the mate."

"Why did they attack?"

"Their kits were killed and the only definite identification of the perpetrator was a Konoha Hitai-ate." Whispers erupted throughout the hall. Seimei waited until it died down and spoke up again. "It is not well known but the Kitsune Clan are the guardians of Hi no Kuni and are normally peaceful creatures. The death of their kits were just beyond the pale."

He allowed them to have time to digest that piece of news when one of the civilians regained his confidence and shouted out, "why are we discussing that? It is in the past. We should be talking about how we should deal with the demon!" This sparked off other council members and soon there was a full blown shouting match in the hall. What amazed Seimei more was that there were several shinobi who also joined in and called for 'the death of the demon'. Seimei allowed the shouts to continue seeking to see if it would die down by itself, but it didn't seem likely. The shouting also appeared to have woken up the child. Not wanting another set of lungs to contribute to his growing headache- he hated council meetings, he cast a calming spell over the child. Seimei turned around and traded a look with the Sandaime who gave him a slight nod.

Seimei turned back round and waved a hand over his throat _sonorous_. "SILENCE!" like a whip crack his voice cut through the clamor. Everyone stilled as he released his KI which, fueled by his throbbing temples, rivaled that of the Hokage's. The council members quieted instantly and resumed their seats, only just beginning to get the connection that they had angered the one person who had fought off the Lord of the Kitsune Clan.

With the voice amplifying spell his frigid voice easily reached the furthest edges of the hall. "Do you have any idea of what you have just suggested? You have just thought to destroy an innocent life before it began. We are not Kiri-"

A nameless shinobi stuttered, "b-but th-that's not a child. He's a demon." The started another round of agreements.

Seimei shot the shinobi a blast of concentrated KI making him go pasty white and start choking. He only stopped when the shinobi fell unconscious.

"Do you see this seal?" he brought Naruto out from the folds of his cloak and exposed the glowing seal. He cast a projection jutsu so that the image was visible to all. "If the vessel is killed when the seal still glows then the Kitsune will be released... from Yondaime-sama's predictions it will take nine years for the Kitsune be fully contained." There was a shocked silence. All glared at the loudest people who had suggested the execution of the vessel. Those people just tried to look small and disappear into the ground.

Sarutobi stood up and whispered something into Seimei's ear. He nodded, dispelled his voice amplifying spell and covered up Naruto again then faded into Sandaime's shadow. there were a few gasps from the civilian section of the hall at the action but Sarutobi cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"As Ookami-Shikikan informed the council. The child must be kept safe and so I declare the information of the seal and repercussions associated be an S-Class secret and will not get beyond this hall. Even the information about the Kitsune being sealed into the child. Under penalty of immediate execution."

Sarutobi went through many hand seals at high speed and flared his chakra. The result was that all in the room were encased in golden sparkles then disappeared. no one dared object because the display of chakra showed them Sarutobi had the title of Kami no Shinobi for a reason. What they didn't know was that the whole thing had been a show and the actual reason for the light show was because of Seimei's secrecy spell that bound to the magical cores of every individual in the hall that prevented them from communicating the information they had just heard, including talking, writing things down or even in any sort of code. The only people barred were the Sandaime and himself.

Danzo was the first to recover from his shock that the Hokage had placed some sort of jutsu on them. "_Hokage-sama_," Sarutobi decided to let the barely disguised tone of disrespect slide- this time. "May I be the first to put forward a claim on the child. As I have... extensive experience the child will do best in my care and he will become a true asset to Konoha."

"I refuse Danzo-dono. He will not be turned into a weapon. He will have as normal a childhood as possible."

"But Hokage-sama. If I am right in my assumptions then the child will have an immense chakra capacity, then the possibilities combined with the training I could give are endless... It will be for the greater good of Konoha." That was the last card in his deck- for now. He knew Sarutobi well and as the Hokage would look over the largr picture. He was sure that...

"Iie. They were a necessity during the war but I will not have any child soldiers be made in times of peace. This is my final say on this matter." Danzo understood he would get no further at the moment so he gave a shallow bow showing his contempt, Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the blatant disrespect but said nothing, and sat down to plan and bide his time. _one day Sarutobi, one day. You will regret having ever gained the Hokage seat_

Ushiha Fugaku spoke up. "May I then put up a claim. The Uchiha clan will be happy,' there were a few snorts from the peanut gallery, after all who had ever known an Uchiha to have another expression bar scowling. A muscle in Fugaku's jaw tightened but he carried on, "to adopt the child into the clan. The compound is very secure and with the HQ of the Konoha Police being in the Uchiha Compound we will be able to keep a constant eye on the child at all times."

Hiashi also stood up, unwilling to let his political rival gain such an asset so easily. Thinking quickly he formulated a reasonable argument. "Hokage-sama. If I may put up an alternative claim. The Hyuuga Clan would be honoured to adopt the child. The clan compound is very secure with nearly all shinobi residents and with the byakugan the progress of the child's chakra could be easily monitored."

Soon after the first two claims there was a flurry of clans all putting up their claims and reasons for adoption. Sarutobi listened to all with increasing frustration. It was easy for the veteran shinobi to see that all were doing so for their own greed. Notably to both the Hokage and his Shikikan was that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Aburame, Inuzuka, Yuuhi and Morino clans didn't speak up. Shikaku spotted Seimei in the shadows and gave his ex-Teichou (ex-captain) a shallow nod who returned it understanding the message conveyed.

Having had enough of the babble said in a quiet voice that could nonetheless be heard through the noise, "enough! I have decided. No clan will be adopting the child. He will be a child of the state. The Sarutobi Clan will however look after the child-"

Danzo interrupted. "But Hokage-sama, that will be giving the Sarutobi clan an unfair advantage. If no clan will be able to adopt the child-"

"Hai Danzo-san but I will not be adopting him."

"It will amount to the same thing."

Sarutobi gave a small sigh. It seemed that his rival's sentiments were echoed by many in the hall. "Very well. The child will be in the care of the state, adoptions will be reviewed personally to ensure the person is independent of any clans."

Taking his chance in the lull in questions he dismissed them and all stood for him to leave the hall, Ken winging his way behind him. The occupants of the hall were silent for a bit after Sarutobi left but then began chatting and falling into groups. Some like Danzo, Fugaku and Hiashi left immediately whilst others lingered. Most were waiting for a closer glimpse of the vessel as the blanket had covered the babe and the projection only showed a bit of the stomach skin. Seimei knew their objectives and didn't oblige their wishes so after one last look from Shikaku he and his companions merged with the shadows and disappeared.

The shadows were a strange world. The traveler could see everything bu the colours were shades of grey and a constant flow of chakra was required in order to remain in the shadows. It was a jutsu from the Nara clan library and only through special dispension did Shikaku teach the rest of his ANBU squad of which only Shikaku and himself were the surviving members. Knowing that this mode of transport was faster he had time to drop off Tsuki and her mate back to their den before popping out of the shadows in the Hokage's Office.

He was just in time to see Sarutobi enter the building. Seimei settled on one chair and waited for his arrival.

* * *

Please review.

Tell me where I am going wrong or an encouraging note will be even better.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Shadow **

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech" **

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- mores code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

**_Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts_**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 3

It wasn't too long before Sarutobi entered the room with Ken. The bird, upon seeing his owner, flew towards him and started preening. Seimei hadn't been lazy in the past few minutes, once the door closed the walls, ceiling and floor lit up in a bright purple flash then disappeared.

Sarutobi was silent for whilst he switched the lights on and made himself comfortable with his pipe and some sake. He reclined gracefully into a seat before giving his subordinate a questioning look. In response the Shikikan divested himself of his ANBU mask and bandanna allowing his grey streaked strawberry-blonde hair to show. He ran his hand through his hair, revelling in the cooling air on his scalp that he could feel through his short military cut, and allowed himself to finally relax after over 36 hours of constant stress.

He sagged down in his seat and gratefully accepted the small cup of sake. He pulled down his mask, the illusion mask kicking in, and threw back the alcoholic beverage. Only then did the Hokage speak.

He had taken the time to fully relax and observe his friend. From the pinched lines around the eyes and slight bags he could tell Seimei was tired and in a bit of pain but couldn't see the hints of grief but he knew it was there. He wasn't ashamed to admit that his young friend had indeed surpassed him

_shame he has not shown any inclination of taking this post_

"How are you?"

Seimei shot him an annoyed look. He had a brief thought to give a scathing retort but then changed his mind- his friend was just trying to be helpful after all.

"Tired Saru... I am ashamed to call those people citizens of Konoha."

"Ah... you worry too much my young friend. They will come around in the end. You see."

"They'd better or else they be finding things a bit unpleasant around here," a glint of anticipation in his eye.

For a moment Sarutobi was afraid for the safety of his citizens from the wrath of a hardened war veteran shinobi but then understood. The glint was murderous however the unpleasantness wouls not involve blood rather their dignity and likely their bodies/homes would be canvas for his pranking outlet. In that moment he remembered a child who not too many years ago played hilarious pranks all across the village and he chuckled at the memory.

He glanced at the baby who was still wide awake and looking about for the source of noise. Seimei noticed the glances and unwrapped the child a little and handed over the baby. Sarutobi held it like a natural despite not having held a child for over a dozen years. He studied chibi-Naruto intently. He could see a lot of Minato in his features but he had his mother's nose and delicate eye-brows.

He was startled from his examination but Seimei clearing his throat and looking pointedly at his pipe. He gave a sheepish grin and put the pipe down.

"He looks so much like Minato..." he said wistfully.

"Un (yeah)... but I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to have Arashi's (Storm) personality." speculated Seimei, referring to Uzumaki Kushina's ANBU code-name.

Naruto gurgled and with a strange movement managed to bop the Sandaime on the nose. Seimei choked on his sake and tried to stifle his amusement but the look on Sarutobi's face was too much and he let out chuckles, "yep, definitely Arashi's personality."

Sarutobi got out of his shock and looked at the baby who looked back with a picture of innocence that he couldn't help but join in with the laughter.

Sarutobi gently stroked the 3 pair of whisker-like marks on either cheek. Unconsciously Naruto half closed his eyes and made strange purring noises. He was so surprised he stopped the stroking. Naruto opened his eyes and gave a small growl sound of displeasure. Seeing no harm in carrying on he did so and soon the child was asleep.

"Well that was surprising. It seems they are extra sensitive like the whiskers on animals... he'll be so whipped when he meets his significant other." both shared another chuckle. But then Sarutobi went serious. "How much of what you said was true?"

"Most of it. The first Kitsune really was only the mate, the second was the true Kyuubi Kitsune. He identified the killer as having a smell of 'fire and a diseased soul'... not very helpful but I have a few ideas... and I didn't really defeat the fox. Just removed a magic illusion and the Fox-lord came to his senses."

"Magic eh..." both pondered the implications of that then after a while Sarutobi carried on his questioning, "and the 9 year thing?"

"Ah... that was a lie. it would buy Naruto-chan a few more years against even the most objective of people, by which time I hope the hype will have died down."

"And the actual danger time will be..."

"A few days by my reckoning, no more than a 5 days." Sarutobi sighed and leaned back into his seat enjoying the warmth of the child on his bones and the comfortable silence.

After a while Seimei reached into one of his pockets and pulled out his letter from Minato and channelled chakra to release the letter addressed to Sarutobi. The movement caught the eye of the Hokage and he looked up in interest. His eye dimmed slightly when he recognised his successor's hand writing. Carefully he handed over the sleeping babe and opened the letter.

After reading and re-reading the letter he looked up. "So Minato-kun left you both fortunes."

"Hai, however I do not want either accounts to be combined with mine. Just leave them as separate accounts but change the owner. I don't intend to spend one ryo of it, I don't need to... and the account holder can be changed at a later date. The estates also. I will seal up the Namikaze estate so only Naruto-chan will be able to open it."

"I expected as much." They lapsed into silence again, Sarutobi delved into his memories and Seimei thought of ways to broach the subject.

Throwing all caution to the winds he decided on a direct approach. "Hiruzen," this made Sarutobi raise a questioning eye-brow. Seimei rarely used his actual name unless he was serious and wanted something he thought his friend would probably object to. "I want guardianship over Minato's son."

"I am afraid I can not concede to your request Seimei-kun. All tokubetsu jounin and above will be working overtime to maintain status quo. We can not appear to be on the back-foot as we lost many ninja due to the attack and it won't be long until word reaches the other nations. All chuunin and below will be working to rebuild Konoha.

You will be out on missions for much of the time as the whole ANBU corps will be bearing the brunt of the mission intake as well as dealing with all the other duties as Shikikan... When I say the whole corps I mean including the Oinin, Tracker and Torture and Interrogation divisions including the Black Ops. The Intelligence will stay as they are keeping tabs on security etc. Your work load will not permit you to actively care for a child."

Seimei leaned forward. Intent on getting his way. "This is not a negotiable issue Hiruzen. Minato entrusted me with the well being of his child."

"Hai. I also read this in his letter to me. I will not ignore Minato-kun's last request, however I must ask you to delay it. I promise you that things will die down in around a year then you will have the time to look after Naruto. I will find an orphanage that will take care of him... besides you are only what, 15?"

"16 just gone midnight... Very well Hiruzen. I will then ask you to fulfil my request in payment of the gift you owe me."

Seimei stared impassively into the eyes of his old friend and grandfather, unwilling to back down. He remembered those days with nostalgia.

[Flashback]

They couldn't help bursting into laughter when they saw that the graffiti and paint on the Tower and Monument were still there. It would remain so until the shinobi sussed that the paint required chakra loaded water like from a suiryudan to wash it off, not just plain soap and water.

They also saw many people walking around with brightly coloured skin. Although they could change their clothing the ink would stay on the skin for a week.

As they were about to set up their instruments for an impromptu music session a chuunin arrived in front of them.

"The Hokage requests your immediate presence." and shunshinned away.

The three exchanged glances

_... whatever does the Hokage want us for?..._

The children arrived shortly in the Hokage's office where he was standing with their backs to the door observing the colourful village. All three stood to attention.

In due time Sarutobi turned around and observed the new addition to his military force.

Seimei and Kenshin wore the same attire he first met them in with the exception that they now wore their hitai-ates on their belt and left bicep respectively. The Inuzuka wore her customary fur-lined hood jacket in an unassuming grey colour, with black pants tucked into blue sandals. She wore her hitai-ate on her forehead.

All three companions had grown and whilst the nin-dog still looked like a puppy, the wolves were double their size and almost at waist height to their four and five year old masters. The canines also sat up to attention to the side and behind their respective masters.

Sarutobi motioned for them to stand down and began. "Masterfully done last night. I applaud you." A lesser shinobi would have missed the slight widening of their eyes on their blank faces, however he wasn't the Hokage for nothing. "Yes I do know of your past... escapades... I found them quite enjoyable though."

Now any decent ninja would have seen the surprised looks on their faces. He could resist. He laughed. "Yes, I am not that uptight. Have a seat... Tea?"

He offered as they sat down gingerly on the couches. The Hokage joined them, taking a cup for himself. Honoka was the first to take a cup, then the brothers followed. They tasted the brew and realised it was an expensive brand. They were still puzzled as to why they were called to have tea if the Hokage knew it was them who did the pranks.

After a few minutes of nervous tension Sarutobi carried on. "I called you here because there is a prize for every person who dares to paint the Monument just before their academy graduation. Believe it or not it was a law placed down by the Nidaime. He was a prankster himself." The children stared at him in disbelief. "It's true. Senju-sensei often did many pranks on his aniki, the Shodaime... I will allow each of you to make a request."

[Flashback end]

None of them could think of what they could possibly want that the Hokage could give them and not be possible by their own merits at that time and therefore put the requests on hold. None of them had followed up on their gift until now and of course at least one of their member couldn't ever make a request ever again. Whether the other survived the night was another matter.

Pushing away his wandering thoughts, fear and grief and focused on this present stare-down. After a while Seimei realised that Sarutobi needed a bit more persuading.

"Can you really believe with all your heart that you will be able to find an orphanage to fulfil Naruto's needs?" He could see Sarutobi wavering. Even he was not so naively optimistic despite his love for the citizens of his beloved village.

"There will have been many orphaned because of last night and the care home will be swamped. Also there is no telling the foolishness of people. The public already have rumours about a demon child, no strict facts and hopefully never will, but rumours nonetheless. It is enough reason for Naruto to become the scapegoat, especially with the whisker marks. No orphanage will be able to stand up against a mob intent on killing a defenceless child, and not one shinobi can be spared to guard him in these present circumstances." and finally to press the point home. "... I can provide that sort of protection. The grief-induced mob will not even know where to begin searching."

The final point swayed Sarutobi over to his thinking. He really did have the safety of Naruto foremost in his mind however did try to think as well of Seimei's work-load. He have a sigh and lowered his head.

"Very well. You have custody over Naruto. Do you wish for him to assume your name?"

Seimei gave an internal sigh but kept his relief from showing. He was unsure whether Sarutobi would allow his demand because as Hokage he had the authority to order his subordinates as he wanted, including his ANBU commanders. Registering the question put to him he answered.

"Iie. I will not take his heritage from him, and in any case I don't plan to replace Minato or Kushina. In order to maintain his anonymity He will be known as Uzumaki Naruto. He will regain his paternal family name when he becomes the Namikaze Clan Head."

"... I see."

Unfortunately neither man had more time to chat as both had pressing duties to perform. Seimei left Sarutobi with a sealed scroll containing the body if the late Hokage and left for his ANBU office via the shadow realm.

* * *

The week until the state funeral of the Yondaime Hokage flew by.

During that week, as Sarutobi had predicted, Seimei was swamped by his duties. His ANBU office was strictly utilitarian with walls covered in privacy seals, a large desk, several filing cabinets and enough floor space for 3 squads to stand in formation comfortably along with his own director's chair. Adjoined to the office was his own ensuite bedroom and small kitchenette. They were his private quarters. His other home, a large 3 bedroom apartment, was only used occasionally for his jounin duties.

Currently his room also held a baby cot, diaper changing area and all things baby- all taken from the things Minato and Kushina had been preparing of course.

For the past week, and likely for the near future, he had not seen the child in person. Upon arriving he had created an enhanced kage bushin to take care of Naruto. The clone had seals painted on to absorb ambient chakra to remain indefinitely but was connected to his magical core so that the kage bushin could also use magic. This connection allowed the clone to send back the memories of the day as he slept so that he kept informed and in case of any emergency he could be contacted and come in person.

Seimei had been very busy. To his dismay both Tracker and Oinin ANBU Shikikan had been killed meaning that on top of his own paperwork he had the Oinin stuff to work his way through- T&I commander took up the Hunter paperwork. Both divisions would be merged temporarily and teams of Oinin and Tracker-nin would be put together to carry out missions.

Also through the shinobi grapevine his last link to his genin team had also perished. Her funeral was scheduled for the day after the Yondaime's.

Not only had he had to do paperwork he was also needed to complete missions. In the week alone he had completed two A-class missions. It was not just him. His division had been reduced from 30 squads to 20, and a further 5 were out of commission for at least 3 months because of the injuries. In one single night he had lost 40 good shinobi and kunoichi who, due to their status as ANBU, would never be recorded on the Eiyuu no Hi (Monument in memory of the Heroes). Any remain would be cremated and they would be officially put down as nukenin and their death attributed to random oinin but the money associated (equivalent to a B-class mission pay for regulars and A-class for captains and brigadiers) would be given to the closest relatives. {AN: I got this from somewhere, forgotten where...}

At the end of October 10, 24 hours after the first attack, Sarutobi made his speech. All except those on perimeter duty attended the gathering. Sarutobi stood on top of the Hokage Tower, resplendent in his official red Hokage robes of office, to address the crowd and gave his reinstatement speech. He praised the bravery and courage of the shinobi who fought to delay the Kyuubi and asked them to look to the future and rebuild their lives. He made special mention to Seimei who stepped out into view briefly with both falcon and wolf beside him. It would be the first time that a civilian had ever seen the an ANBU Shikikan. The only details of the night was that the Yondaime Hokage had defeated the Kyuubi and had given Seimei the means to defeat the other. He made no mention of the sealing. He also stated that the Yondaime's funeral would be occurring after a week and only then would private funerals be allowed to occur.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was the day of the funeral. Minato lay in his coffin on a small pyre. The whole village had turned up to the funeral being held near the Hero's Memorial. the body would be burnt once everyone had paid their respects because in the shinobi world many secrets could be gained from a corpse and the corpse could be used for nefarious purposes. The ashes would be collected and placed in the Hokage sacred grove where all the remains of the Hokages were buried. Sarutobi and Jiraiya spoke about their memories of their successor and student before one by one people filed past the body dropping a token. The last three were Minato's surviving students- Rin and Kakashi, and himself. Rin was coping with her grief and her red eyes evidenced her crying however he was more worried about Kakashi. He was trembling with suppressed emotions and his lone eye glistened but no tears fell. Seimei wanted to reach out a comforting hand however it would break his anonymity so he contented himself with a promise to keep an eye out for the youngster- he himself was only two years older but it felt like an age.

The Sandaime lit the pyre and with the aid of Jiraiya, Rin and Kakashi they kept the flames strong so that everything burned. Meanwhile Seimei was relegated the duty of carving out his friend's name on to the Memorial stone, the first of many that would be etched on the stone as a result of the disastrous night. Once the pyre was reduced to ashes people began leaving. A few minutes later only two people remained on the field.

Seimei was staring at the carved name but kept Kakashi within his peripheral vision. From the tense body language he detected a strong request from the teen.

It started raining. Rain trickled between his armour and soaked into his clothes. Kakashi was faring no better and was soon resembling a drowned rat. Kakashi was grateful for the downpour because it masked his tears.

He needed to do something. He needed a distraction. He screwed up his courage and fell into a crouch in front of the legendary ANBU Shikikan. Seimei's eyebrow rose underneath his porcelain mask. Kakashi's soft voice could barely be heard above the patter of rain on the grass.

"Shikikan-sama. I request to join the ANBU corps."

_Ah... so that was the chill I felt... but I could keep a better eye on my charges for senpai... _

He replied activating the voice changer which lowered the register of his voice. "That is a highly unorthodox request Hatake-san..." he saw Kakashi tense further, "however... your request will be considered."

Seimei glanced at Kakashi's wet silver hair, twisted on his heel and apparated away without a sound. Kakashi was shocked that his request had not been instantly shot down. ANBU were chosen and most by the time they were jounin had served the corps in one division or another. The recruit just disappeared and if their family and friends were lucky they would see not get a letter of condolence through the post after the first year of disappearance because statistics show that most new ANBU fell during the first 6 months of operations. Kakashi spent the next few hours lost within his thoughts facing the stone.

* * *

Meanwhile Seimei had apparated into his office to check in on Naruto in his adjoining bedchamber. The baby was awake and gurgling happily, playing with the dangling toys. Seimei-clone occasionally read aloud, played games and cuddled etc. He wore no armour and only the sleeveless vest, black ANBU pants and bandaged feet and ankles. Both clone and boss wore their ANBU mask as a vow that all ANBU operatives made, except the T&I division, was to never reveal their identities to any civilian in any way when on duty or when their ANBU identity could be related to them. This unfortunately applied to Naruto as he was not a shinobi. Naruto had been shy for the first few times but soon forgot about his trepidation as babies do and interacted fine with his guardian.

When he peeked in both clone and baby were on the mat covered floor sleeping, baby hand clenching the black fabric and the clone's arm wrapped protectively around his charge. Seimei reviewed the information from his clone and chuckled, closing the door to his room. once into his office proper he sobered. On his desk were a list of names of the ANBU who had died a week ago.

He took off his mask and rubbed his tired face. This was the duty he loathed most. As the commander of the whole ANBU corps he was responsible for writing the condolence letters for all deaths in the 5 divisions. Giving a sigh he took hold of the first piece of paper and a brush and began penning the first of many letters. An hour later, with the aid of a clone, he finished the letters.

He dispelled the clone and as the information flowed into his brain he stood and stretched. He placed all the letters into the out-tray and activated the seal to send the letters to his secretary's in-tray. Getting rid of the crick in his neck he re-wore his mask and strode out of his office. He had one last duty to perform before he turned in for the night.

As he walked down the three-man wide corridor of the underground ANBU complex the operatives stopped and saluted allowing him right of way. He returned them with nods as he made his way to the ANBU Black Ops Division memorial cave. ANBU who saw him pass in that direction realised his intentions and also followed. Soon word got out and the whole ANBU Black Ops division were behind him. The whole corps had been given the night off if they were not already on missions.

Seimei led his entourage to a large cave lit by many ever lasting torches which gave off a flickering but warm light. Inside were rows upon rows of memorial slabs identical to the ones above-ground however the names on these stones were the silent heroes of Konoha.

Each ANBU Shikikan had their own stone on which were engraved the names of the ANBU who had died on their watch. The stones dated back to the founding of Konoha. The real names of the dead, their squad number and code-name were recorded. The stone only allowed the commander of the Black Ops division carve out the names. Seimei traced his gloved fingers over some of the names he had had to etch.

_Hatake Sakumo, Squad 1, Shiro-Inu _(White Dog)

That was a name that stood out. It was irregular in that his sensei had not died on the battlefield as an ANBU however due to what many believed him to be a failure because of his judgement of saving one's comrades before a mission, he had not been honoured by a fair memorial and so Seimei made it his duty to remember him in this way, a code which all under his command agreed to.

As he set about engraving each name into the obsidian all 39 ANBU who had followed him stood to attention in formation by rank and squad. Every shinobi and kunoichi stood silent and unmoving for three hours in respect for the fallen.

Seimei finished off with the last one: Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, Squad 1, Aoi Arashi (Blue Storm), and stood up. He gave the memorial a deep bow which he kept for several seconds before rising. He clapped several times to send off the lingering spirits and strode past the ANBU who were still standing to attention.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Seimei strode through the silent halls ignoring the slight humming of chakra and magic that ran throughout the ANBU underground HQ complex.

If he went to bed soon he would have over eight hours sleep which would likely be the longest stretch of time for R&R for some time. Seimei stepped into his rooms, showered and changed into clean clothing- a replica of his clone. The clone had retreated to the corner and sealed himself into a seal on the floor to reappear the next morning. Seeing Naruto safely asleep in his cot he had no need for the mask. As comfortable as the mask was it was nicer to feel fresh air on his face. Underneath Seimei still had his half-mask and eye-patch on, but then he never removed them if he could help it.

Seimei picked up Naruto gently from his cot and stared at the baby, memorising every detail. Although the had the memories from his clone he hadn't had the chance to actually hold the warm weight for himself since the sealing. The baby was so small he was slightly afraid that one wrong move had he would damage the child irreplaceably. He sat on his bed and cradled the babe, waiting for the last of the throbbing of his left eye-socket to die down. His eye didn't often give him pain, only for the more serious of injuries, but when it did he could feel the phantom pain of the deranged Sandaime Tsuchikage digging out his eye with his fingers. Although disturbing the pain indicated that the chakra poisoning from the kitsune had finally finished healing.

Once the pain left Seimei placed a gloved hand on Naruto's temples.

_legilimens_

Seimei entered a warmly lit area. The mindscape was coloured beige and orange, the colour of his room and Naruto's blanket. It was a peaceful place and calming voices in the background indicated that Naruto was not yet fully aware, as was expected. In the distance he could see a dark patch.

Traversing the blissful mind he arrived at the edge of the dark area. Just beyond the shadows he could see a huge sealing circle with the kitsune contained within. Seimei opened his mouth to shout out a greeting when he stopped.

_she's sleeping! wait... can souls sleep?!... best not wake her, the message can wait... _

The fox was curled up in the centre of the seal and looked like a faintly glowing blob. The 9 fluffy-looking tails covered most of the head and paws were tucked underneath. All in all the animal didn't look like the enraged demon of a week ago, it actually looked quite cute! Deciding there was not much else to look for he retreated back into the real world.

The legilimency probe didn't stir the soundly sleeping baby. Seimei returned Naruto back into his own cot and turned in himself, falling asleep before his head even touched the pillow.

* * *

List of spells and techniques 

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

C: **Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu** - Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet technique

XX

M: **Legilimens** - 'Mind Reading' spell

* * *

AN: Sorry about the long delay. I have been revising for my A-levels and had my first exam today.

I'll try to update within 3 weeks, but no promises.

Also please go into my profile and vote in the poll for which team Naruto should be in. It is a bit early but I am planning ahead.

Please review as well. Just a simple good will do- it gives me heart to carry on.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Shadow **

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech" **

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- mores code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

**_Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts_**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 4

Thankfully for Seimei, Naruto only woke once during the night to feed so he was able to wake up quite refreshed the next morning at 0300. After getting dressed in his usual apparel he walked up to the entrance of the complex munching on a self-made, nutritious-but-not-absolutely-disgusting ration bar.

Kin flew out from the bushes to meet him. Kin was a female Golden Kikaichuu and was about as large as his middle finger. Kin and her kind were the royalty of the bug world and all were obligated to obey them. She had been a princely gift from the clan head for rescuing one of their own deep in enemy territory. Shaking himself from his thoughts he greeted his friend.

:ohayo Kin-chan, how is the clan doing?:

The insect didn't reply in words but sent messages by feelings and images. The message showed many casualties, both host and insect, and that one of them had been the Aburame Clan Head however the Aburame he had saved all those years ago was injured but alive. Kin told him more about the state of the clan and village as he waited for the other two commanders.

His revolving left eye spotted both emerge from the entrance. Kin flittered onto his neck and rested on the black cloth looking like a golden brooch fastener to his red cloak. Seimei conjured a small red ball of light that hovered between the three men.

The other two men wore white cloaks, one wore a blank white mask and the other a leering purple demon face. On the left breast of their cloaks were blue and purple ANBU swirls indicating them to be the Intelligence and T&I ANBU Shikikan respectively. Seimei took out two sheets and two scrolls. He handed them one each and explained the details.

"These are the people to collect. The scroll contains black cloaks, bandannas and white masks. Give each recruit one and instruct them to go to training field 27. I will be waiting there, then you are free to go."

"Hai," answered the Intelligence commander and he disappeared.

"Humph! Stiff bastards the lot of 'em, Hyuuga." The T&I head sniffed again, then adjusted his mask, unused to wearing it. T&I, unlike the other divisions, were not required to wear masks however it was mandatory when collecting recruits. He gave up with the mask and clapped Seimei on the shoulder. "Well, best be off. A good 20 shinobi on the list... don't be too harsh on them eh 'mei-kun. We need the people after all."

"The same to yourself Kasugai. Recruits with tachycardia are useless."

The commander gave a bark of laughter at the jab at his mask before turning and disappearing off into the night. Seimei also dispelled the orb plunging the clearing into darkness and moved without a sound to his first appointment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Seimei sped through the trees into Konoha proper he seal-lessly created a clone and sent it off to his genin training field to await the arrival of the recruits. His first retrieval was to a relatively new shinobi block where Kakashi's apartment was. Casting a general silencing charm over all the stairs he made his way up shielding his chakra all the way. The shinobi flats had purposely built squeaky hinges and public floor-spaces with seals embedded in all the walls to prevent scaling the walls. All were measures to stop paranoid shinobi from sticking the new arrival full of weapons before verification as hair-trigger, post-mission shinobi would likely do.

Seimei arrived at the landing leading to Kakashi's flat. Peering through the separating layers with his glass-eye he noticed Kakashi was fully clothed in bed and ready with all his weapons but was sleeping lightly. Seimei quirked a small grin underneath his masks. He was going to enjoy this job. Apparating silently to Kakashi's bedside he waited until Kakashi had fully exhaled before springing into action.

Quick as a striking snake he grabbed Kakashi's left arm that was above his head and with the other grabbed Kakashi's neck. In one motion he pushed Kakashi to the floor, slipped his hand around to the back of the neck pressing the jounin's head to the floor, left arm in a half-nelson and Seimei kept his right knee in the small of Kakashi's back to prevent any retaliatory actions. Seimei was grateful for the silencing charm he had placed as the whole manoeuvre had caused a slight thump which all veteran shinobi would have heard. He knew this was very hard on the recruit but he refused to be a Shikikan who had been caught unawares by a recruit as he had done to the previous commander on his recruitment day.

Activating the voice changer he ground out, "recruit 68. You have been selected to enter the ANBU Corps. You are not to speak until ordered to do so. Do you comply?"

This was a test. Seimei released a bit of pressure off the neck. Catching on immediately Kakashi nodded as best as he could. Seimei felt the slight movement but allowed his weight to press down a little bit longer before standing. Kakashi paused momentarily then followed suit, turning to face his captor.

Seimei unsealed the cloak, mask and bandanna and handed it over. Once everything was in the right place no remarkable features that could identify the recruit to his actual self Seimei continued.

"Go to training area 27. Follow what you are told there." not waiting to a reply Seimei apparated out, simultaneously cancelling the silencing charms in the apartment. It took a few seconds for the order to register but when it did Kakashi leapt out of the window in the direction of the very seldomly used training area.

As he walked to his next recruit's home, just above Kakashi's own, he reflected on his actions. He followed Kakashi's progress with his false-eye until he got out of range. He knew he was being vey abrupt but it was standard procedure and with an all time record in the number of recruits being selected in one night he was very rushed for time.

_I mean there are 9 recruits in this apartment alone_

Pushing the depressing thoughts away he spotted his next target who was fast asleep armed with only a kunai under his pillow.

_oh I am so going to enjoy the rest of tonight_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours later he was finished with his rounds and the sun was peeking on the horizon. He made his way over to the TA 27. When he was close enough he began counting the recuits. There were 60 in all meaning that all the recruits had been picked up. Seimei silently kawarimied with his clone and surveyed the field.

In front of him were rows of recruits each in their own metre square of space. From their various positions it was clear who had arrived earlier and who had arrived last. Those that had arrived first were in relatively easy positions- a stress position on the balls of the feet and thighs parallel to the ground, easy in that a two hour wait in the position should have been within the pain tolerance of a rookie jounin. Those that arrived later were in more exhaustive positions that required a greater use of chakra such as in the tips of the fingers in a senbon or even several. Having finished his inspection he began.

"All eyes forward!" All the nondescript recruits moved with visible relief out of their positions and stood to attention. "I am the ANBU Black Ops Shikikan. If you survive the next six months I will become your commander. The other people who collected you were the Shikikan of the ANBU T&I and Intelligence divisions. You have been selected based on your performance. ANBU Black Ops are the best of the best... this does NOT mean you can get cocky," Seimei gave them a taster of his KI which he saw many tremble under, "for those are the first to die." he said the last bit softly and used wind to carry his words. The matter-of-fact tone caused them to shiver more than the KI.

Seimei was silent for a bit to allow the message to get into their heads. A cursory sweep with his legilimency probe proved that his message registered in even the more bull-headed recruits.

_good, perhaps I will not have to find more replacements any time soon..._

In his normal tone he resumed. "If we were not so down on numbers you would each be on a six month one-on-one training with a veteran, however in these circumstances we must be adaptive. Under two existing ANBU members another two of you will form a squad and perform missions. After 6 months they will give an evaluation, if you haven't already died." Having finished what he had to say to the recruits Seimei raised a gloved fist. Instantly 60 ANBU, in rows of 30, were crouched in front of him waiting for further instructions.

"Shikikan-sama/ Kuro-Ookami-sama." echoed the ANBU.

"You know what to do."

Pair by pair the ANBU stood and went to the first two recruits. Each ANBU took out a strip of seal covered paper and wrapped it around the recruit's neck. Once the ends of the paper touched the paper disappeared and the seals appeared on the neck forming a chain of seals. This was a security feature and allowed recruits to enter the ANBU grounds and prevented them from communicating any mission or ANBU details unless within the compound. They would be removed once they were fully inducted into the corps and sworn to secrecy. The recruits had been placed in order of which squad they were assigned to so the existing ANBU were not picking their squad at random.

Soon the field was empty again. Gauging the time from the position of the sun Seimei also left the field. Intent on getting things done before attending the funerals later that day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun was high in the sky by the time he was finished with the paperwork. He was invited to several funerals however the ones he woud attending were only the Inuzuka and Aburame ones and finally Kushina's one in the evening.

Seimei was in his all-black jounin attire of a skin-tight top with sleeves to the elbow, thin armoured flak-jacket, foci-gloves with vicious back-hand spikes, lower arm guards, ANBU pants and boots. over the top he wore his characteristic black sleeveless leather trench-coat with the green and gold stars of his rank in the lapel. On his left bicep he wore his deceased brother's red cloth and on his right his hitai-ate and finally of course he had a face-mask and eye-patch. Today he had forgone his two swords and only had strapped on his back katana as well as his three equipment pouches. Kin rode visibly on his shoulder and one of Tsuki's pack padded along at his side.

Seimei leisurely strode through his village surveying the damage and progress. After over a week most of the rubble and destroyed building were cleared away awaiting builders to raise them again. Despite the late hour there were few on the streets. The mood was sombre as many funerals took place.

He walked past Konohagakure's largest park and saw many families still camped their as temporary homes. There were several squads of genin at hand to maintain the peace and keep watch.

When he neared the clan compounds in the older part of the village he was surprised to see minimal damage. Outside the Inuzuka clan compound were two guards. Both straightened as he neared and the younger of the two opened his mouth to call out to them but stopped due to an elbow the the side from his companion. Instead the chuunin guard bowed low and greeted Seimei.

"Ohayo gozaimasu Senshi-dono. Keidai no Inuzuka e youkoso." (Good morning Lord Senshi. Welcome to the Inuzuka Compound)

Seimei was not surprised by such address. He after all had the Inuzuka dog-tags hanging proudly around his neck visible over his shirt. They were a gift from the Inuzuka clan head after he brought back his Inuzuka team mate, who happened to be the niece of the head and whom sadly the funeral he was about to attend. There had only been one other person to whom the tags had been awarded to a non-clan-member- the Shodaime had recieved them as a sign of their gratitude for accepting the clan into his village. The tags signified an honorary Inuzuka status and the wearer had the right to call upon the clan for assistance.

"Ohayo Inuzuka-san." The guards allowed him through and bowed as he passed. Their nin-dog companions also sank into a position of submission as they sensed that the wolf, who held the rank underneath Tsuki's mate, was superior to them.

He walked up the path to the main house and just outside of the door a shaggy-haired woman greeted them. Beside her was her companion who wore an eye-patch. Seimei spotted traces of red around her eyes as evidence of tears shed. Not one for formalities the clan head embraced him. Seimei stiffened slightly on contact but then relaxed.

"Ohayo Tsume-dono, Kuromaru."

"Ohayo Senshi-san." came the gruff reply of the clan head's companion.

Meanwhile the wolf studied the impressive dog-wolf hybrid and analysed the strengths and stance of the canine. The wolf came to a decision and sank into a respective position before the other. Kuromaru snorted slightly then flicked his ear and shifted into a less fierce position, communicating in canine tongue that he was satisfied.

Seimei and Tsume watched the interaction in amusement.

"I'm surprised. He is a prideful one." commented Seimei.

"Hn... well Kuromaru is a the Alpha on his own territory."

Tsume led Seimei through the compound to a the private Inuzuka grave leaving their canines behind. The gravesite was merely a shrine with a large stone tablet for all the names of the dead and their companions and an area for the pyre. Unlike with Minato, the Inuzuka preferred to burn the bodies until there were not even ashes remaining.

As the last to arrive Seimei paid his respects to each of the dead but lingered longest on his own team mate. She looked peaceful, if a bit pale, in her iryo-nin garb and Kiyo, Tsuki's sister, lay beside her.

_I will never forget you Honoka-chan. I watch over Hana and Kiba like you wished... Say hello to otouto for me._

Seimei blinked away tears before returning to his place. Honoka was not the only Inuzkua fatality and so there were many individual pyres. On that one night the Inuzuka numbers were cut by 20 in a clan of about 60. The rest of the clan were present and there were only a handful of non-Inuzuka present, mostly the team members of the fallen. As head of the clan Tsume lit each individual pyre then returned to her place at the front of the group beside her 3 year old daughter Hana and a few month old son Kiba. Everyone would stand vigil until the chakra flames consumed all of the bodies.

Reaching a decision Seimei took out a miniaturised violin.

_Finite_

The violin returned to full size. It was a gift from Honoka. They had been friends from academy. She had been the youngest in the graduating year, at 8 years old, until he and his brother entered. Naturally as the youngest they became friends and surprisingly each of them knew how to play an instrument- Seimei the flute, Kenshin the cello and Honoka the violin. It was at Honoka's urging that each of them learnt how to play each other's instrument and she had gifted each of them with a violin of their own.

Tsume saw his movement and glanced questioningly at him. Then realisation hit her and she gave a small appreciative grin. Taking that as an assent he began playing. Although he was not at her level he was proficient and a beautiful melody flowed from the strings. He played Honoka's favourite songs, lost in memory, and unconsciously leaked magic into the instrument making the music even more potent and even more moving.

All were crying by the end and even a few stray tears leaked from his own eye and was absorbed by his mask. Just before the flames died away he heard Tsuki give a howl from her part of the forest. Soon the rest of her pack fell into chorus and the wolf by his side joined in, mouring the loss of their Alpha's kin. The canines in the compound joined in the mourning and the compound was a cacophony of sound.

Soon afterwards Seimei left the compound as the inscription ceremony was strictly a clan thing which no outsider was privy to.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was near sunset when Seimei had finished attending all the funerals of the people he had worked with. He had one last funeral to go to. For this he had to collect Naruto as it was time for his mother's funeral. Naruto was dressed in a baby-blue one-piece suit, wrapped warmly in his orange blankie.

They were in the public grave site and Kushina's body was laid out on the pyre. At the moment there was only the two of them however her saw another approaching.

"Kuro-Hyou (Black Panther)," Seimei called out with his back turned.

"Maa Teichou (captain). I haven't been in ANBU for a good five years." drawled a lazy voice.

"... Shikaku then..." corrected Seimei, then glanced at his friend and one-time subordinate.

Beside him stood a typical Nara. Lazy stance, black hair pulled up in a short spiky ponytail. He wore a tan fur-lined jacket that had seen better days, black mesh shirt and jounin pants. There were two distinguishing scars that ran from next to his right eye up across his forehead, disappearing into his hair and another scar on his right cheek down under his jaw and ended at his right collar bone. The scars were legacies of his final ANBU mission that had gone AWOL and had resulted in him being in a coma for about 6 months.

Shikaku's sharp eyes saw the darkening of Seimei's lone grey eye and the guilt that was present in it. Shikaku was honoured that Seimei trusted him enough to show his true feelings around him and not be his usual stoic, emotionless genius self. He clapped a hand on Seimei's shoulder.

"Hey, you may have been the taichou (commanding officer) on that mission but even you you aren't to blame for the traitor that sold us out... and besides without the injuries I wouldn't have gotten out of ANBU and be alive today and have a wife and a cute son."

Seimei gave a brief eye-smile and his emotive eye showed his gratefulness for getting him out of his dreary thoughts. Just then Naruto gurgled catching the attention of both men.

"Ah... so who's this little one?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Arashi's (Storm) son then." Shikaku held out his arms and Seimei obliged and handed Naruto over. Shikaku held onto the baby securely and examined his features. He noted the whisker marks and stroked them gently, a reflexive growl of pleasure escaped form Naruto. "Yes... he has her nose and eyebrows... I assume he is the..."

Seimei appraised his friend, looking for any hints of untoward feeling regarding the child. Finding none he gave a short nod.

"Hai. Those marks show him to be a Kitsune Jinchuukiri. Minato-senpai searched for as much information on them as he could and found that all jinchuukiri's have distinguishing features of those that they withhold."

Shikaku nodded. He was not like others who couldn't see past the ends of their own noses. He could clearly see that the baby was no demon and he was also confident in the sealing skills of his former Hokage. He was about to ask another question when another thought hit him. With his hand covering the lower half of the baby's face the similarity between the baby and Minato really showed. His mind whirred and he drew in a sharp breath.

"Of course Yondaime-sama would use no other... and Kushina had been seeing him for many years already..." Shikaku whirled around to face his friend who was watching in amusement at the emotions that cycled through his face, "he used his own son didn't he?" There was no need to clarify the 'he' in the sentence.

"... Hai... he would push the burden on no other..."

"The marks discourage an perfect resemblance but... I can't believe that I didn't see it before."

"Hai... well people generally see what they want, not necessarily what is..."

Shikaku sighed and pressed his forehead to Naruto's staring into the innocent blue eyes. After what seemed like an age the Nara Clan Head reached a decision. He lifted his head and looked at his friend. "I Nara Shikaku, 20th Clan Head since the founding of the Nara Clan, do pledge the protection of the clan over Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto."

"So witnessed by Senshi-Ikioi Seimei, guardian of Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto." There was a flash of light between the trio confirming the pledge. "Naruto will go by the name of Uzumaki until he gains his father's seat on the council." Shikaku handed back the now-slumbering child over to Seimei.

Both turned to the pyre which both had come to the grave for. Seimei sent away Naruto back to the ANBU compound with a clone leaving only the two men. Slowly Seimei walked up to the pyre and lit it. Both stood in silence as the flames lit up the sky in unison with the golden sunset. Then, as he had done at Honoka's funeral, he took out an instrument. This time it was an ocarina. This was an instrument that he had taught Kushina as part of ANBU squad bonding. He rarely played it, preferring the flute, but it had been one that she favoured. Understanding where he was going with this Shikaku took out a scroll and unsealed a violin.

Both played long into the night remembering the good times and the times that would no longer be. They played for the lives lost but also for the future.

* * *

And so life moved on. Naruto was growing up well. The majority of the time he was cloistered in Seimei's room with the clone for company. A number of times Ken, Tsuki and her pack came down also. The rest of the time Naruto spent outside of the compound with Seimei in his jounin guise or with the Nara clan and got on famously with Shikamaru, Shikaku's son. There was a bit of a hitch with Yoshino, Shkikaku's wife, however after a bit of explanations she got over her fear and was treating Naruto as a second son.

As Sandaime predicted. The blistering pace of missions carried on and left Seimei with little time on his own. Thankfully five months after the attack the Shikikan posts had been filled. Normally the training for the post would take 2 years with 6 months cross-training in all the other ANBU divisions however due to their short-handedness the new commanders would have to learn on the job. They knew who the new commanders were- Inuzuka Shinji and Hoshiro Jinta, but as such none of the three existing commanders felt that the newbies were good-enough about them to reveal their true selves. Cross-training consisted of the most difficult tasks in each division and allowed the commanders to effectively take-over for each other as they had been doing. Without this skill they could not consider themselves as being ANBU Shikikan and so would not have the privilege of knowing who they worked with.

For the few days after transferring all the extra paperwork Seimei revelled in the seemingly inordinate amount of free time he had. In those few days he got to actually spend time with Naruto and spend time on his favourite hobby of wood carving. He was pleased with Naruto's development even if it was a bit faster than his peers. He checked for any fox influences but as far as he could tell the purification of of the Kyuubi's chakra and integration of it into the baby's system had pushed the basic development on a bit and would decrease as he got older. Even so, Seimei did graft on a monitoring seal into the Naruto's chest that would keep him aware of the child's chakra status and general well being as well as pin-pointing his location in his mind.

It was in that free time that he decided to go on rounds through the compound to check on his men. He dispensed of his red cloak and wore only his ANBU gear. The first place he went to was the medical wing. the mini-hospital was for the whole ANBU Corps but the majority who used it was the black Ops division as the rest were mostly lone operators and so if injured they would often not reach help in time and died in the field.

To his dismay there were many beds occupied and the iryo-nin had their hands full. Being a qualified A-class medic himself he could deal with all injuries except the most serious which needed experts like Tsunade. He moved froom person to person assessing and healing minor injuries, leaving the more serious. Most injuries were clearly avoidable and stress fractures.

Finished with the medical wing he wandered through the corridors glancing through walls into the individual squad baracks and ANBU common room, channelling chakra into his glass eye to gauge their chakra levels. Nearly all the squads were running on empty and their systems showed signs of soldier-pill abuse where their bodies were slowly damaging itself because the chemicals were over-stimulating the chakra producing cells and exhausting them. If the abuse carried on for another few months many would have to be hospitalised to recuperate and allow their systems to recover.

Seimei walked back to his office thinking up multiple plans to relieve the stress off his soldiers because if he did not do something about the near constant missions his division would end up the the same position as after the Kyuubi attacks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Seimei woke up and set out to implement his plan. He had checked up on the whereabouts of all his squads and was pleasantly surprised to find that all squads would be present in the compound the next morning. It was the opportune moment to announce his plan. Checking the time he saw that it was 0600 hrs. Seimei pressed a button that would activate hidden speakers to project to every room in the complex.

"This is Kuro Ookami Shikikan. All Black Ops Division squads report to Assembly Point 3 at 0630 hrs. Ookami out."

Half an hour later Seimei appeared in the entrance to the ANBU compound. In front of him were all of his division in squad positions. The squads of four stood in silence, though he spotted some squads' fingers flickering away in their squad variation of the standard ANBU sign language, arrayed in a diamond pattern with teichou at the point. From the doorway he counted 23 squads and almost half the masks were blanks. A wide mind sweep told him that many were extremely tired and puzzled about why they were called. He also spotted a few nosey ANBU, not of his division, lingering at the edges of the clearing but dismissed them from mind as it wasn't as if he was giving out classified information. Right on the dot he walked out into view flanked by two of Tsuki's pack and Kin on his shoulder.

As soon as he was spotted the division fell as one into a crouch. "Shikikan-sama/Kuro Ookami-sama!"

"Ohayo gozaimasu ANBU. It has come to my attention that many of you are suffering from mild cases of soldier pill abuse. I understand the need for the missions to be completed however should this continue you will be of no use to Konoha. I realise that some of you have masochistic tendencies," there were muffled snorts of laughter, "but please not at the expense the safety of Konoha. As of now squads 1 through to 11 have a 7 day furlough to report back for duty at 0600 Monday 17th March. Squads 12 to 23 will have their furlough from 0600 Monday 17th to 0600 Monday 24th March. All missions have been rearranged to accommodate this. Further rotations are on the board in the missions room. Dismissed."

It took a few seconds for his order to register but soon the clearing was empty again. Even without his magical abilities he could easily read the shock of his men at his announcement.

"Ach... my men are gonna gripe and give me grief after this." came a gruff voice from behind him.

Seimei ignored him in favour of sending off his companions. Then he turned around to face the person and tilted his head in amusement. "Oh..."

"Yes, you, Ookami-baka. Their gonna want paid leave too."

Before him was the T&I commander sans the mask and cloak. He was in normal jounin attire. He had brown hair and a weather beaten face and an altogether unremarkable shinobi were it not for the blood red eyes. He wasn't an Uchiha but Yuuhi who were renowned for their genjutsu which the shikikan used to his advantage when breaking his prisoners to get the relevant information. He was also a good sparring and drinking partner too.

Seimei sobered and the sile dropped from behind his mask. He straightened. "Yeah... well my division deserve it. All the squads have been doing an average of 3 missions a week for the past 21 weeks too keep up with the demands. Even with all the new recruits I am not back to full strength. A few more weeks at this pace and I won't have a division to be commander of- they'll all be in the medic-wing for chakra exhaustion or dead on mission because of rookie mistakes. And anyway, with the extra paperwork out of the way I have more time for missions on top of the one mission I have every week."

"Hai... either way I think your fanclub within ANBU just gained a few more members- more like your whole division."

Seimei shuddered. The thought of screaming fangirls and boys, who were more than capable of catching him as a group, terrified him more than having to face enraged Kyuubi Kitsune ten times over. The Yuuhi only chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder.

"You're what... 16? You should be enjoying the attention, I would and I am over double your age."

"I shall tell your wife about your lecherous habits old man!"

"Do that and you'll not be able to leave the compound without someone fling themselves on you! But on a serious note- give me a shout of you need a partner. I'm not too busy at the moment." He held out his right arm.

"Arigato my friend." Seimei responded and grasped his fellow commander's arm just below the elbow as comrade-in-arms do.

* * *

AN: Well here it is. A little ahead of schedule. Revision is not going so well...

As always please review.

List of spells and techniques

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

M:

XX

C:

XX

CM:

XX

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**The Shadow **

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech" **

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- mores code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

_**Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 5

So Seimei took up the slack from his resting teams. ANBU was still taking the brunt of the missions and so he was forced to take an average of 3 missions a week. He generally took the easier ones- by that he meant the assassinations in which all was required of him was to slip in, take out the target and get back. The legend of Konoha no Yurei was up again and as the T&I commander predicted his reputation within the ANBU rose to greater heights. With all his extra skills the missions didn't really affect him that much. Generally he left his Shikikan ring with a chakra-self-sustaining shadow clone for it to deal with all the paperwork as they needed the seal the ring provided to officiate any documents, whilst he went on the missions.

All through this time he still managed to find time to relax with his troops and they loved him for it. His ulterior motive for the socialising was to keep an eye on the more junior of his ANBU, especially Kakashi. He encouraged them to talk to him and to relax them in his presence he often played his flute in the common room and carved animals on request. What they didn't know was that the figurines they requested was enchanted with calming and dream warding spells so as to sooth the distressed sleep of many a ANBU operatives, after all the missions undertaken by ANBU were not pleasant and the after effects created sleepless nights.

A month after the down-time rota was in place the recruit reports were submitted. Seimei was pleased that although there were a few near misses there were no fatalities within the recruits and all 60 were now fully qualified ANBU. Not having the time to ink in all the ANBU tattoos he dispatched scrolls containing secrecy contracts, seal transferral strips (to get rid of the band of seals at the neck) and sterilised inking sets to each of the captains.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was about 6 months into this arrangement that Seimei managed to sneak in a bit of relaxation time outside of the compound. He took this opportunity to take Naruto outside to the village proper. Naruto was 11 months however he was about as developed as a year old child which Seimei speculated was because of the fox. Naruto was toddling relatively well and was speaking a few words.

It was still light despite the late hour so he decided to pop in to see Shikaku which also gave Naruto a playmate instead of just him. He was moving on the roof-tops with Tsuki beside him. She absolutely adored him and had basically adopted him for her own. Whenever she visited she brought along her cubs and they and Naruto rough-housed together. The cubs were very gentle and any inevitable scrapes were healed without a fuss, again Seimei suspected the fox but when he checked the kitsune was still unconscious. Naruto looked forward to the meetings as much as Tsuki did and was always sad to see them go, hence the reason for Seimei bringing Naruto along to play with Shikamaru.

Seimei moved unhurriedly from roof to roof, Tsuki keeping up easily. Naruto giggled with delight, enjoying the trip. The sounds of joy coaxed a smile from underneath Seimei's mask. He spied with his false eye Shikaku in the garden along with the rest of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and their children.

_excellent_

Seimei left the rooftop highway just outside of the clan district and landed lightly on the road.

"Oh! 'gen, 'gen, niisan!" cried Naruto, missing the wind whislting through his hair and teh fast movement. (supposed to be: again, again...)

Seimei patted Naruto on the back, "later, later Naru-chan. We're going to see Shika'."

"Shika'?" Naruto stopped his whining to look up at he guardian with bright blue eyes.

"Hai."

"Yah! Shika'! Shika'! Shika'!" he chanted.

Seimei chuckled.

:its seems Naru-cub is eager to meet his den-mates:

:as if you aren't hime:

Seimei stepped up to the Nara clan door and knocked sharply twice. He heard a shuffling noise and the door was opened by an old woman. He bowed.

"Konban wa Nara-obaasama (good evening Grandmother Nara). Is Nara-dono present?"

"Hai Senshi-dono. He is in the garden."

"Arigato gozaimasu."

Seimei stepped into the house and made his way through the familiar house and into the garden. The Nara clan were one of the luckier ones in that the Kyuubi attack did not affect their numbers that greatly and so the clan had a relatively large clan compound illustrated by the big communal garden. Off to the side was a fence where the deer, that the Nara clan were famous for, were kept along with several laboratories in which all the Nara clan medicines and drugs were made- another thing they were famous for.

Currently Shikaku, Inoichi and Chouza were sat on the grass with two bottles of sake between them and their children in a group nearby. Seimei spotted the wives in the house chatting.

Naruto had resumed his chanting upon sighting his friend and alerted the men to their presence. They looked up though only Shikaku knew who they were.

"Ah. Seimei, come. Have a seat." Once Seimei had had placed Naruto on the ground- Naruto toddled off to make friends, he came over to the adults and Shikaku made the introductions. "Inoichi, Chouza. Senshi Seimei. Seimei. Yamanaka Inoichi, Akamichi Chouza."

"Konban wa Yamanaka-san, Akamichi-san." he was familiar with Inoichi because he was one of the best up-and-coming T&I operators the division had ever had and was slated to be the next T&I Shikikan. The Akamichi he was not familiar with other than he was head of the clan which could alter body part sizes with chakra and was part of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio that were one of the most effective teams during War.

The other two, being shinobi who fought in the war, recognised who he was as well as his nickname.

"I never knew you were so familiar with Konoha no Kuro Senkou (Black Flash of Konoha) Shika'. By the way call be Inoichi, Senshi-san."

"Chouza for me Senshi-san. Akamichi-san is my father."

"Seimei will do Inoichi-san, Chouza-san."

Both parties took some time to examine each other. Inoichi was a typical Yamanaka with long blonde hair in a pony-tail and blue eyes. He wore a loose purple yukata but tell-tale bulges indicated that he was not without weapons. His companion was also a typical of his clan- red mane-like hair, shorter and more compact, a veritable tank of a man. This suited his fighting style of impressive taijutsu and quick conversion of fat stores into chakra. He was wearing green adapted samurai armour over general jounin wear.

Being legends themselves they were familiar with others of their caliber. As far as they knew Senshi Seimei graduated Shinobi Academy at age 4 yrs 5mths, mentored under Hatake Sakumo, became chuunin the same year just shy of 5 yrs, jounin at age 8 yrs and earning the name Black Flash because of the speed movement that decimated enemies in the war. The speed was not as fast as the Yondaime's Hiraishin but was faster than the defences of all opponents so far. The techinque was a flash of light however because of his customary black trench-coat the flash became a black colour. Both men tried, and failed, to read the shinobi genius. All they could see was a tightly controlled veteran that gave nothing away and were it not for the lack of lines at the edge of the sole visible eye they could believe that the jounin in front of them was near their own age.

Shikaku felt the impasse and coughed.

"Mendoukusai (troublesome)." He patted the grass next to him, "sit down Teichou. I don't want a crick in my neck staring up at you like this. I'm not as young as I used to be y'kno?"

Seimei caught the subtle finger-flick-communication and relaxed a tad. "Gomen na (sorry) Shikaku," then sat down beside his friend.

Shikaku waved the apology off and unsealed another cup, filled it with sake and handed it to him.

"Ah! So you were in ANBU together..."

"Hai Inoichi-san. I was transferred to Shikaku's ANBU squad, then after Dan-teichou retired from the force I became the captain. my team mates had seniority but they didn't want to deal with the paperwork- lazy bum." Seimei joked giving a sidelong glance at his friend.

"Mendoukusai..." sighed Shikaku for the second time in 10 minutes. "You were more than ready for the position. By that time you could take us both down in an all out spar." Both clan heads' eyebrows shot up. They knew from their friend's posture that he was not joking and they knew that Shikaku was a very strong fighter and was near unbeatable when he had other team mates included in his strategies. Their estimations of the 16 year old jounin rose. The conversation turned to less sensitive topics as all four present and ex-ANBU knew that a secrecy agreement was signed upon induction into the corps that prevented anymore chatter on that subject.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Naruto was set down he made his way over to where his friend was, Tsuki trailing behind him.

"Shika'! Shika'! Shika'!" the toddler was still chanting.

"Mendou'sai..." uttered the young Nara copying his father, however he rolled over onto his front and got up only to be tackled down again in a hug. Behind him the other two toddlers giggled.

Naruto looked up at the sound and in a rush to get up fell again onto his bum. Despite all appearances Naruto was a shy child when among people he ws unfamiliar with. Naruto clutched at his grey wolf plushie and held onto Tsuki's fur for comfort. He looked though his lashes at the girl and boy. The girl was a copy of her father but with a heart face and the boy was a copy of his father but had red-brown hair and was chubby instead of muscle. They were Yamanaka Ino and Akamichi Chouji.

Shikamau, unlike his father behind him was unsure of what to do so Tsuki took the initiative. Gently She nudged Naruto and flicked her ears over to the trio. She created a small legilimency link.

:go on child. Make friends:

Surprised Naruto looked for the source of the noise before landing on Tsuki. She gestured again and gave him a loving lick on the cheek. This drew a giggle from him and he freed his hand to wipe away the saliva. He stood but stayed immobile until Tsuki gave him another nudge. Naruto stumbled but retained his footing. Seeing no other option he introduced himself like he had seen his niisans (remember he thinks of jounin Seimei and Ookami ANBU as two different people) do.

He gave a bow and said, "ohayo. 'tashi wa Naruto." (supposed to be: watashi wa...- I am...)

The other two also scrambled up and gave their bows.

"Ohayo. Watashi wa Ino/Chouji." (they are older and so have better control)

The introductions seemed to have done the trick of ridding Naruto of his nervousness. Regaining his bouncy disposition Naruto dragged the unwilling Shikamaru towards a near-by sand pit babbling away. Shikamaru resigned himself to becoming deaf in one ear but did humour his friend and joined in castle making with equal enthusiasm. Seeing their friend and new person go off in that direction Ino and Chouji followed. Soon though the castle making degenerated into a ful out sand flinging war between the four toddlers.

Getting a command from her friend Tsuki moved in to remove Naruto from the sand pit. Tsuki crept up behind Naruto and picked him up by the back of his clothes. At first Naruto struggled but an annoyed growl warned him to stop moving after all this was not the first time he had been moved like so. The other three toddlers stopped flinging the sand and watched the unusual scene. The huge wolf that was dragging their playmate off could easily fit his head and half his torso inside its gaping mouth full of needle sharp teeth. Just before they were going to scream for help Naruto was released. Unheeding of the danger, as toddlers do, they rushed to their friend.

Naruto was quick to reassure them and introduced them to ''suki'. Shikamaru was the first to pet her as he was more familiar with his playmates wolf, though he had never witnessed such a manoeuvre. Then Chouji and Ino followed suit and soon all four were petting and scratching Tsuki. She rumbled in comfort as small nimble fingers reached places she couldn't like between the ears and back of the neck but the uniqueness wore off and the four fell asleep worn out by their activity. This was how Seimei found them later, sleeping on top of each other with Tsuki in the middle like a den mother.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After prolonged chatting Seimei was able to understand why Shikaku kad spoken highly about his friends. He drew his own conclusions from their body posture and response to questions and found his estimations of them to be not far off Shikaku's. Chouza was the more open and jolly of they two however when angered his fires would not end until he was sated and unlike his friend all was forgiven once a matter of grievance was settled. Inoichi on the otherhand was more shewd in his thinking and was watching Seimei as close as he watched him. From what Seimei gathered Inoichi was more cold and clinical but was like his rotund friend in that he did not hold grudges once the matter was settled.

_yes... of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio the one that should be feared is Shikaku. He will hold the guilty accountable for many years and retribution will not come in one swift blow but in many smaller ones designed to pick away at the guilty party's comforts destroying them bit by bit until there is scarcely anything left. I wonder how Shikamaru will grow to be like... only time will tell..._

However he knew he had nothing to fear from the trio. They were good people and he could tell that they loved their village and would never do anything consciously to hurt their home. He was about to insert his own comment on the topic of taijutsu technique when he felt a wave of something watching over him. But as soon as the feeling registered it disappeared. He knew this feeling to be the Hokage using his seeing ball to locate his person because the miniscule rune mark inscribed onto the stone basin in which the ball was held (without the Hokage's knowledge) created a slight magical aura, which so far he only knew of himself that could feel it, over the person to which the ball user intended to find.

Mentally calling his companion he received no reply and only a mind rumble of sleepiness and comfort. His false eye swivelled in her direction and he gave a small chuckle at the scene. The kids looked so cute and being partially covered by children she looked like a huge ball of fluff. The other three gave him strange looks at his outburst.

"Sumimasen (sorry). The kids just look so kawaii (cute) piled around Tsuki like that. It seems Hokage-sama is looking for me. Shika' could Naruto stay for the night? I'll pick him up tomorow."

"Eh... that's fine. Shikamaru will like with the company and Yoshino would love the oppurtunity to mother the child."

Before the two curious men could question him further a chuunin entered the garden giving just that notice. Seimei acknowledged the order and the chuunin left. The other three men got up to say their good byes. Seimei gave a bow to Inoichi and Choza and clasped forearms with Shikaku then made a half-seal and left in a swirl of leaves in the Konoha shunshin.

* * *

Seimei arrived outside outside the Hokage tower. It was common curtesy to not travel directly into a building, only out of it unless on ANBU business. He was in his jounin clothing so he could not risk blowing his cover as there would be at least two ANBU guards in the office. He walked up to the reception area and was waved into the office by the jounin secretary.

"Ah Seimei. Prompt arrival as always."

"Hai Hokage-sama." He snapped off a salute. Even without his eye he could spot the two ANBU in the room. He made a mental note of the two for extra genjutsu and control training as the Inpei no jutsu was horrendous by ANBU standards.

"Konban wa Seimei. I need you for a mission." Sarutobi made a discreet wave dismissing the ANBU. "The mission is classed as S-class for its importance but is A-class in parameter." He tossed over a scroll with black borders.

Seimei opened the scroll and read the orders.

Mission:  
Assassination of the Kento family

Class: S

Duration:  
5-7 days

Parameters:  
Only targets to be killed ASAP  
Retainers and guards only if necessary  
Deaths must be of identifiable to BOLT- Kumo ANBU force

Seimei looked up. "I am curious of the parameters Hiruzen." In answer he tossed over several documents. Sarutobi had returned to his paperwork which overflowed his desk.

His eyes flicked to the heading and noted that it was from an agent report from the Intelligence Corps. Scanning through the report he read that the Kento family was the main merchant family in the area that was influencing the others causing trade there to waver between accepting deals to Kumo and Konoha. It was clear why he was chosen for this mission. It was importat that they clinched this deal because trade with Nami and all the neighbouring areas was hugely imprtant. If BOLT was evidenced to be the disruptive force the clans in the area would more likely deal with Konoha. As for why he was chosen was because he was just as strong in all five primary elements from building up his elemental affinity from a very young age, as well as being one of the top assassins in the trade.

"Hm... so a straight in and out mission."

"Hai. I assume you know enough on BOLT?"

"Hai."

"Very good then. On your way shinobi." Only then did Sarutobi look up. He stood up and gave his right hand a salute which Seimei returned in kind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time Seimei was packed and ready to go night had fallen. He had one more place to visit before setting off. By passing the front door Seimei apparated into the study where Shikaku was filing out a mission report. He coughed to gain his friend's attention. When he saw who it was he lowered the kunai. He noted the closed off expression and rightly guessed that his ex-captain was to go on a mission.

"How long?"

"A week. Is it alright if I leave him with you?"

"Hai. Do you need Tsuki?" Seimei nodded. "She's in the boys' room."

"Arigato." Shikaku waved him off and returned to his report.

Seimei navigated his way to where Naruto was sleeping. As he neared he could hear chatter. Seimei grinned underneath his mask.

_obviously Yoshino-san did not intimidate them enough_

When he opened the door there was a slither of sheets and all was silent- the boys were holding their breaths. He felt Tsuki's snickers.

"It's niisan, Naru-chan, Shika-chan." Two blue and brown eyes peeked from under the bed sheets. Naruto jumped out and flung himself at Seimei.

"Niisan!"

Seimei picked him up and patted his bright blonde hair.

"Hai, hai. Be good for niisan Naru-chan. Niisan has to go away for a few days. Listen to Shikaku-ojisan (uncle Shikaku) and Yoshino-obasan (Aunty Yoshino) okay?"

"No niisan bye bye. No." said Naruto adamantly, holding tighter onto Seimei's neck.

"Niisan has to Naru-chan. Niisan has to play ninja."

Taken in by the idea his grip lessened. "Yah! Ninja!"

"Hai, hai you silly boy." he said fondly ruffling Naruto's hair, avoiding the flailing arms. He gave him a kiss to the forehead and tucked him in. "Oyasumi chibi (goodnight children)."

Naruto scrambled up and grabbed him before he could leave and planted a wet kiss onto Seimei's mask. "Bye bye niisan." Seimei laid a hand on his head as well as Shikamaru's and left the room with Tsuki following. Naruto stayed standing and waved.

Outside he was not surprised to see Yoshino with all the racket they had been making.

"Konban wa Yoshino-san."

"Don't give me thath tone young man. I haven't seen you much at all. Do remember to eat and sleep. I don't know what the Hokage is doing running you all down to the ground." She gave a sigh but her grin belied her strict tone. She gave him a chaste kiss to the other side of Naruto's kiss. "Stay safe."

All he could do was nod then disappeared without a sound to the East Gate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Having checked out at the gates Seimei set a fairly relaxed but ground-eating pace which he could keep up for 24 hours if needed. Speed was upper jounin and he would arrive at the target in two and a bit days, however he would be able to get back much quicker after creating a portkey. He supposed he could apparate closer to the location but long distance apparation required a lot of concentration and magical energy which he would prefer to keep in reserve. On the way he made temporary camps and survived on ration bars with supplements of whatever Tsuki could catch.

Seimei arrived in good time at 0445 on the third day. Supressing and shielding his chakra to the fullest extent he snuck in over the roof top. Unfortunately there was a complication. It seemed Kumo had the same idea and had sent a OLT squad for the mission. Fortunately the squad was lax in their securing of the compound and had not laid out any alarm wards or traps.

Everything was in shadow so he could use a particular favourite jutsu in his arsenal. Making a half rat seal with his right and a snake with his left he whispered, "Suberiiru Kage." and slid into the shadows with Tsuki beside him. Once in the twilight world of the shadows they separated. This was a variation of the shadow travelling technique which allowed the user to drag a victim iinto the twilight zone. Once there the victim will freeze for a moment and if not released with in half an hour they would die there. The downside of the technique was the chakra comsumption however once used there was not a person on the continent who could detect him. Tsuki had instructions to kill two of the squad whilst he took three of them.

From behind the first victim Seimei emerged. None of his features could be seen as he was just an extention of the shadow world and had no physical form but chakra allowed him to clamp his hand over the mouth and pull him head-first into the shadows. There he used a kunai to slit the neck of the BOLT member. in the real world there was not a sound and the head of the family rolled over in his sleep unaware of the few extra minutes he had been graced with. The rest of the squad died in a similar way except that Tsuki's victims died without their throats. Navigating the shadow realm Seimei collected and dumped the bodies at the rendeavous point in the real world. Seimei and Tsuk also emerged from the shadows at that point as well. Glancing at his timepiece he saw that barely 15 minutes had passed.

After sealing the bodies he tossed a soldier pill to his companion and had one himself. He mind-spoke to Tsuki.

:So how do you suppose I go about this? The easiest would be to use Josaidouki no Justu:

:I understand the humour in using it however don't you think it will be a little suspicious?"

:Unfortunately... to use only one would imply a one-man job. I'll have to use five different methods then, one for each member of the BOLT squad...:

:You'd better get going then. The servants will be up soon. I'll stay here:

Seimei nodded and sank into the shadows again. This time using the less chakra-intensive shadow walking skill.

He reached the arrived at the master bedroom first. The head of the Kento family was still soundly asleep on his back. Seimei grimaced in distaste. The man looked like a beached whale.

_well at least all the extra fat and water will make the body extra conductive..._

He threw up a silencing barrier. As he prepared the jutsu his mind lingered on the irony of the situation. The technique was designed to be used to give life to patients and now was about to be used to end it. Having finished the seals and concentrated the lightning chakra he placed a hand over the face and just below and to the left of the heart. As he pressed down making contact with the skin he pushed a strong burst of raiton chakra through his hands and whispered, "Raiton: Josaidouki!"

The obese merchant's eyes flew open but it was too late. The torso jerked upwards and the bed groaned. Seimei made no effort to hold the man's bulk down and immediately released his hands. The corpse settled and the eyes closed for all the world looking as if still asleep except for the red burn mark on the face and chest with slightly smoking shirt.

There was one last thing to do. Informers had gathered that BOLT squads loved to take a trophy of their missions. They only took the distinuishing feature of the more important targets and for the merchant it would be his family ring and garish gold chain. Taking those items he dispelled the barrier and left the room the same way he entered.

The next four were not as easy though. The wife was pregnant and the children- two girls and a boy, were 5, 1 and 2 respectively.

Shinobi were supposed to have no emtions, be tools- however in reality that didn't work. Shinobi were supposed to be able to act according and adapt to every circumstance but that would not be possible without emotions. Sometimes he really did loathe his career choice after all what person murdered children?

_one that follows orders and acts in the best interest of his home_ replied his conscience.

What ever the reason he was sure that he would not be sleeping soundly for days to come. A feeling of support came from his link with Tsuki. She understood his feelings as she had had to do the same to other packs who invaded her territory. His only consolation was that the rest had not suffered. He had killed them with Avada Kedavras so they died without pain befor mutilating them with techniques of various kinds.

The 1 year old: Raiton: Denkou Kei no Jutsu. The child's body was scarred beyond reckoning, limbs nearly severed, but no blood.

The 2 year old: Raiton: Tempi no Justu. The clying smell of burning flesh would clog his nose of a while yet and he would be off meat for some time. The technique used lighning chakra to literally burn air and cooked the body.

The 5 year old: Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu. A small cloud formed above the body and a bolt ot lightning struck exactly where chakra dictated. Seimei guided it to strike through the heart piercing the body and leaving a circular burn mark on the mattress.

The wife: a Blood Boiling Curse with added raiton chakra. Blood literally boiled out of the skin pores. Blood came out half-coagulated out of every orofice- the ears, mouth, nose, eyes. That was truly a horrific sight.

By the time he was finished the first servants were up. He had just started moving when the first screams woke the rest of the household.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Seimei decided to leave the Kento family immediately. He would rather not linger and anyway there was no way that he would be able to sleep a wink so soon. Instead of moving in the direction of Konoha he found himself shunpoing around the coast of the continent. The turbulent atmosphere suited him well and helped him release some of the pent up emotions. The coast and roiling awves crashing down on the rocks were beautiful in their own way.

Unconsciously his feet directed himself to an out of the way temple. From the looks of it, it was a bit run down and likely only villagers came by. Although he was not religious, shinobi could rarely afford to after all what deity/ies and respectful worship condoned killing as a career?, he felt it would be good for him to light a scent for each of the children and unborn child, not to mention it would assauge some of his feelings.

Entering the temple he saw that although a bit worn and used the interior was extremely well kept and clean. There were only a few acolytes about and so he ghosted inside making no sound at all. He came to the statues at the front and carefully lit four incense sticks. He prayed for a moment and wished for them to be reincarnated to a better and longer life. Having finished all he could sincerely think up of he stuck the sticks into the sand pot in front of the main deity. A he turned to leave he felt the gold chain lie heavily in his pocket. Fishing it out he looked at the ring and chain for a moment.

The chain was solid gold with lengths as thick as his thumb and there were 10 links each as long as his little finger. When melted it would be a handsome sum. The ring was again solid gold however unlike the chain where there were only patterns, the ring had a large flat face with the Kento family seal imprinted on it obviously as the his official seal.

_the chain I can leave, but the ring is too revealing_

He slipped the ring back into his pocket and dropped the chain into a collection basket. He turned on his heel and walked out of the temple not wishing to acknowledge the bows of gratitude from the watching acolytes.

:Feeling better?:

:Hai: and he left it at that not wishing to discuss it any further. He would still not be sleeping well so soon but at least he would not have to fight full out against three ANBU squads before he would be overcome with exhaustion to even contemplate sleeping. :Come. We'll go a bit further in land before porting back:

The pair travelled at a leisurely pace following the path of a river. After a few minutes Seimei felt a large chakra signature and a much smaller one. The smaller chakra signature fluctuated and quivered with fear but also defiance, then the chakra spiked with pain.

Seimei increased his pace, but kept silent and shut his chakra down to the highest degree. Chakra signatures were distinct with few ways of altering them, but combined with the sheer amount of chakra the shinobi possessed, it could only be one person. Orochimaru.

* * *

List of spells and techniques 

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

M: **Sanguis Coquere**: Blood Boiling Curse

XX

C: **Kage Bushin no Jutsu**: Shadow Clone technique

C: **Konoha Shunshi no Jutsu**: Leaf Body Flicker technique

C: **Inpei no Jutsu**: Concealment technique

C: **Suberiiru Kage no Justu**: Shadow Sliding technique

C: **Raiton: Josaidouki no Justu**: Lightning style: Defibrillator technique

C:** Raiton: Denkou Kei no Jutsu**: Lightning style: Lighning Whip technique

C: **Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu**: Lightning style: Thunderbolt techqniue

C: **Raiton: Tempi no Justu**: Lightning style: Lightning Fire technique

XX

CM:

XX


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Whoooot! Exams are over. Here's the 2nd chapter in the update.

Please please review, I've only got two so far.

Please comment on the story so far, even a good will do...

XXX

**The Shadow **

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech" **

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- mores code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

_**Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 6

_Orochimaru. _

As Seimei neared where the two chakra signatures were his mind ran through all that he could recall about the traitor.

_Orochimaru (family name unknown)_

_Date of Brith: 27th October 9AF (After Founding)_

_Age: 39_

_Status: S-class Nuke-nin, Former Konoha Elite Jounin_

_Nicknames: Hebi no Densetsu Sannin _(Snake of the Legendary Three Ninjas)

_Known Favoured Attacks:  
_

_Kuchiyose: Hebi  
Kuchiyose: (Sanju) Rashoumon  
Senei (Ta) Jashu  
Kanashibari no Jutsu  
Tsuchi Bushin no Jutsu  
Kusanagi no Tsurugi_

_Crimes: _

_Kidnapping of Konoha civilians and shinobi  
Conducting of illegal experiments_

Seimei stopped there. He could remember the first time he had gone down the tunnels into Orochimaru's secret labs. Despite the overpowering smell of chloroform and disinfectants the scent of death and decay flowed through the air. Bodies were thrown haphazardly into cells packed full of corpses. There were bodies from a few months to adults in their forties. Even pregnant women could be seen except for their bellies having been slit open in a parody of a caesarian.

He had been part of the group that had gone down to confront Orochimaru with the Hokage. Unfortunately he had gotten away.

:Hush. that was not your fault. Even with all your talents you cannot be in two places at once. The snake knew not to target you so went for your subordinate. The Sanke was old Monkey-Butt's opponent:

:Hai. It is not my place to say but even Enma-sama agreed. Hiruzen could have taken him out then... but he didn't:

Indeed. That incident was one of the few sore points in his history with his friend. It was a decision that they in the end agreed to disagree upon.

:What's done is done Seimei. Focus on the present:

As they neared the edge of the trees he muttered, "Cave Inimicum." an the feeling of something cold ran down their backs. The spell allowed them to blend in with their surroundings and with their chakras suppressed to furthest extent they would be near impossible to spot. There was another more effective spell rendering them invisible to even the Byakugan, and was a true invisibility spell however it was more energy intensive.

He paused to take stock of his resources.

_I have enough kunai, shuriken, senbon... have my both katana... 80 percent magic, 50 percent chakra. I doubt I will be able to match him with only 60 percent as well as protecting the other..._

He turned to the scene in front of him.

There were two people in the clearing. The taller was obviously Orochimaru through he was in a very strange get up. He wore a thick black cloak with red clouds embroidered on it, a Kasa (large bamboo hat) with cloth strips obsuring the face.

His companion was a purple haired girl who stood slightly bent over with her left arm limp and right arm clutching her shoulder. She was trembling and was obvious that it was all she could do to stop herself from collapsing. But despite all this she was defiant.

Seimei searched his memory for the face of the girl.

_Mitashi... Miratashi... Ah, that's it... Mitarashi, Apprentice to Orochimaru. Last seen before Orochimaru's defection._

The two were speaking.

"I'll give you one more chance Anko-chan. Join me willingly. I tire of your impertinance over the last 2 years. Akatsuki can use a person with so much raw talent as you, but not with that attitude. Choose apprentice. Join or die."

_So she was unwilling... What's Akatsuki?..._ Seimei stored the information for later use and focussed on her reply.

"No way in hell Hebi-teme (bastard snake). I never left Konoha willingly and will never turn traitor. Konoha will hun- ah!"

However Orochimaru was causing her pain intensed a great deal and left her reeling on her knees.

"Enough! Your babbling is getting annoying. Sarutobi-sensei didn't have the heart to kill me when he had the chance and never will and any Oinin sent my way will know why I am one of the Sannin! You have said your piece so prepare to die!"

From inside his gullet he produced a beautifully made sword which he held by his tongue. Anko made no attempts to escape knowing her fate was inescapable nor could she do anything with the pain she was in.

With his tongue Orochimaru shot the sword straight for her heart.

Anko closed her eyes to the inevitable.

CLANG

She opened her eyes again to see a strange sight. Someone had deflected the fatal strike. She could barely make out the outline of her saviour. The air seemed to ripple in the shape of a man but she could see her ex-sensei _through_ the figure.

Seimei had pulled out one of his katanas and shunpoed between the girl and the traitor but he didn't dispel his spell, after all was more difficult to hit a target you could barely see.

:Tsuki! Move her away:

Tsuki followed her master out and took hold of the back of her clothes and dragged her several meters into the treeline. As a wolf of her bulk, dragging a fit girl aged 9 was no problem for her. In order to stop her from runing away Tsuki curled protectively around her. Unconciously Anko sought out the reassuring warmth, craving the support as the pain from her cursed seal faded a little with the distance between Orochimaru.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the clearing Orochimaru was getting frustrated.

"Come out into the open you coward!" His sharp eyes detecting the slight ripple in the air and dodged, however he had not come out unscathed. Even with his enhanced sight he had gained several cuts having misjudged slightly.

Seimei was having a good time. He was unharmed and so far only used his kenjutsu skills. Orochimaru really wasn't that great a swordsman. His opponent was getting angry but not to the extent of making serious mistakes. If he stood a chance of winning in his current state he needed as many breaks as he could get so he started to speak.

"Ah. But Orochimaru-san. It is in the nature of good shinobi to remain in the shadows is it not?" asked Seimei in a monotone, subtly pokiing at his pride. He used the polite term of address because although he was a traitor he was deserved the respect as a formidable shinobi- not to mention it often surprised enemies if talked to in a polite manner.

_Katon: Housenka_ he shot multiple fire balls at Orochimaru and disguised within it kunai.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" The chakra powered wind blew away the fire and kunai, forcing them back his way.

_Reducto_

Seimei had sheathed his sword and aimed for the ground at Orochimaru's feet. The ground burst upwards as if from a bomb. Unfortunately the snake's veteran instincts guided him to jump out of the way of the red light. But in the air he was vulnerable.

Taking advantage of the jump Seimei moved in to try to disable his arm. Coating his hands in wind to extend and increase the damage he scored a few hits however the Hebi-style taijutsu allowed him to evade the more disabling moves. They separated.

Throwing his voice Seimei commented. "Tut tut, Orochimaru-san. It seems you are getting rusty-"

He was forced to jump as he felt a chakra signature approach from below. He flipped around to see his opponent emerging at a fast pace, Kusanagi poised to strike.

Taking his chance he took a poisoned kunai and sliced through the muscle of the right shoulder. However this maneuvre cost him.

"Senei Jashu!" Quicker than expected four snakes came out of his extended left sleeve and wrapped around Seimei and held him upside down. "Commendable that a pest like yourself has kept me occupied for as long as you have. Now if you will tell me this illusionary technique you are using I may consider letting you free... with one or two missing limbs, but alive."

Seimei didn't answer and using a free finger he shot a caustic yellow spell at his captor's chest.

_pectus dissolvare... thank Kami for full fingered gloves_

The spell splashed across the chest and half his chest collapsed. orochimaru nearly dropped Seimei in shock and pain however mustered up the resolve to stick him with Kusanagi.

As he moved Orochimaru heard something more dire. Behind him stood another figure. Orochimaru didn't have a chance to get away before a ball of chakra and magic ploughed into his back shredding the cleak and taking away a lot of flesh.

As Orochimaru flew head-long into the surrounding trees Seimei allowed the kage bushin to dispel from within the snake's clutches and stopped the disillusionment spell. Soon he let the whirling ball of chakra and magic in his right palm to disappear.

_Ransenkigan... the damage will not so easily be healed with chakra techiniques with opposing magical energy lingering in the flesh_

Minato and taught him the basic Rasengan with the idea of competing to complete it by adding an element to it, however it was not to be. Seimei shook his head but found it to be a bad idea.

Orochimaru's snakes had broken a few of his ribs and it pained him to move, but it was bearable. Also one of the snakes had bitten him and his left arm was going slightly numb. Carefully he placed a magical block in his arm to slow the spread of the posion. Having finished he stalked to where he felt Tsuki and Anko were.

His eye spotted Orochimaru getting up, looking pissed.

_well I guess he is one of the Sannin... but still he will be slowed... _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Seimei arrived in front of the pair Anko's eyes widened and she shot up, backing into a tree. Seimei sighed.

"Relax child. I will not harm you. I did not go to the trouble of defending you against one of Konoha's most notorious Nuke-nin to just kill you." He tried to convey his sincerity through his lone eye. When she did not move he sighed again and, despite the protests of his ribs, he crouched down so not to be as intimidating and held out his right hand, palm up. He put more than his usual amount of emotion into his voice. More like when he used to try to coax animals to play with him or when he was playing with Naruto.

"Come child. I heard what was said before he attacked you. I know you did not leave Konoha willingly. You will have my support of your innocence once we get back home. For now we need to get out of here. Orochimaru is injured but still alive. Come."

After a bit Anko reached out a hesitant hand into his. Face still pale and frightened.

Seimei gently grasped the small soft hand in his own and pulled her towards him. She was stiff in his arms and trembling.

"It will be alright Mitarashi-san." he whispered. Slowly he placed a hand over her right hand on her shoulder. She gripped tighter onto her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm just going to place a numbing spell to get rid of the pain." It took a bit longer for her to reveal what was under her hand.

Seimei was shocked for a second but covered it masterfully.

_Orochimaru had suceeded in creating his own cursed seal!_

The last time he had seen the three tomoe (comma) seal was on many of the corpses in his old underground lab, evidence of a failed seal.

_Luckily I have samples of his blood and saliva. Maybe I can reverse engineer the mark..._

Shaking his head from the clouds he did as promised and placed a numbing spell over the mark. Without the pain from the seal Anko fought to keep herself alert as her body began to cave-in to her body's demands for rest.

Up close he could see that the girl was about 9-10, but the rings under her eyes and thin frame with little body fat made her look older. Picking up the light child up he was surprised to see her fully relax and try to burrow into his shoulder. Seimei also noticed how sleep slacked tight muscles and made her years younger.

"Come Tsuki. We'll flash for quarter of an hour to get sufficient distance from here before taking a portkey."

In the same manner that she was able to enlarge herself for battle against the Kyuubi's mate, she reduced her size to that of a cub and leapt onto her master's shoulder, clinging like a limpet.

Chuckling to herself at the imagery he apparated to above the treeline. Tsuki caught the stray thought and huffed.

Before the trio could plunge back into the foliage Seimei flashed, travelling around 50 meters with each flash. This was the beauty of the chakra-magic hybrid technique. It consumed only a little of each energy with each step and was just as good for short distances as his friend's Hiraishin. After 15 minutes of this method of travelling he was nearly a third of the way through his journey back.

Safely landing down on the ground he let Tsuki off. With one hand still holding a sleeping Anko his other hand fished out a kunai.

Focussing on the image of Konoha's East Gate he whispered, "Portus." The kunai glowed blue then settled. he held the blade of the knife carefully and offed the ringed handle to a normarl-sized Tsuki. "It will activate in 3... 2... 1."

A feeling of a hook to the navel jerked them in the direction of the temporary portkey. There were flashes of colour before the image of the Eastern Gates emerged.

Both of them cushioned themselves with chakra and made not a sound not footprint as they landed. Safely tucking the kunai into the right pouch he adjusted his hold on the sleeping Anko and walked up out of the surrounding forest and up to the bored guards.

Showing his ID to the guard he signed in. One of the nosier Chuunin guards looked over his shoulder as he signed his name.

"You're a few days early Senshi-sama. Easy mission then?"

Seimei gave the chuunin a flat look. "... No." and walked away.

Behind him his sharp hearing and lip-reading skills allowed him to understand what was being said.

"Geeze... fine. No need to be a SOB."

The second, older chuunin berated his comrade. "You baka (idiot). You just had to anger _the_ Kuro Senkou (Black Flash) didn't you?"

Seimei smirked as the nosy guard paled. He hadn't been angry, just a bit miffed at the nosiness.

"And did you not see the S under the mission class?" Seimei ignored the rest of the conversation and made his way through the busy streets of Konoha. He stopped by a dango shop and bought a big order for himself, and Anko if she woke up, and Hiruzen who was undoubtably cooped up in his office doing paperwork. Normally he wouldn't see the Hokage after a mission but seeing as he had encountered one of Konoha's sole S-class Nuke-nin he believed it warranted a full debriefing- so what if it was done in comfort?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When he climbed up the stairs to the level of the Hokage's office he was surprised to see no secretary.

:She's on her lunch break obviously:

:Ah:

There was only one lone ANBU guard outside the door. Seimei made a subtle ANBU sign. :Friend:

As the ANBU assessed his ID card Seimei looked past him into the office. He saw that Jiraiya was also in the office, but peculiarly the ANBU were absent. He caught the word 'Orochimaru' before the ANBU allowed him access. The ANBU knocked twice on the door then opened it for Seimei. Both Jiraiya and Sarutobi looked up to see who entered.

"Back so soon Seimei-kun?"

"Ah. Seimei-kun. Long time no see." greeted Jiraiya. The large man looked no different from when he had seen him last, just after Minato's coronation two years ago. He had changed his attire from standard jounin wear and flak jacket to green kimono with a battle vest over the top and a steel mesh suit under everything. Strangely he had opted of wodden geta instead of sandals. His hair was as white as it had ever been but it now reached mid-back and his red tear-like lines were now longer and went under his jaw.

"Ohayo Jiraiya-san, Sarutobi-sama. The mission went fine but there was a problem on the way back. I encountered Orochimaru and this here is his apprentice."

"Funny you should mention it. Jiraiya-kun was just mentioning him." Sarutobi motioned for them to go to the couches.

Seimei gently lay Anko down on the couch and sat on the same one while the older men chose their seats. Saruobi made tea and Seimei unsealed the dango as he was famished.

Seimei sat with a groan and in a way as to not aggravate his ribs. He waved away Sarutobi's concerned looks, "just a few cracked ribs from my run in with Orochimaru. I'll have them looked into later."

"Are you sure Seimei?" asked Jiraiya a bit disbelievingly. He was not clued in on him being the ANBU Black Ops Shikikan and only knew him to be Kuro Senkou. He knew Seimei from being his examiner for the Journey-man Fuuinjutsu exam. "You may be the Kuro Senkou but Orochimaru's on a whole new level."

"I assure you Jiraiya-san I am fine. I have several tricks in my arsenal." He turned to address the Hokage. "The mission went off with only a slight a hitch. Kumo sent along a BOLT squad. I had to neutralise them first before taking out the family."

"And all without any retainers noticing?"

"Hai. On my way out the servants were just waking. I think the sound could be heard a mile away. The scenes in the room were not pretty."

Both caught the understatement in the emotionless voice. Jiraiya whistled. "You managed to take out a BOLT squad without waking the whole compound... I take back my previous comments." he turned to his former teacher and said with humour, "well sensei. Why were you complaining to me about a successor. You have the next Hokage-candidate right here. Able to take out a BOLT squad with no witnesses then take on Orochimaru. Only a few more months of grooming then you'd be back in retirement."

"Hai. He is the perfect person for the job but he has said to me he has no current ambition to take the post-"

"What, and be stuck behind the desk and under a mound of papers at the age of 16. Thank you but no thank you."

"Ha ha. This one's smarter than you were. He seess the real consequences of taking the post. Too bad you didn't eh, sensei?"

There were chuckles all round.

The mood sobered as Seimei reaccounted what he heard in the clearing about 'Akatsuki' and the cursed seal, then he glossed over the fight not really mentioning his magical abilities- Seimei preferred to keep that ability under wraps.

Sarutobi was pensive when he heard the report. He lit his pipe and puffed. "Jiraiya-kun was talking about my wayward student's movements. He's been monitoring him with his spy network." He waved for Jiraiya to take over.

"From what I have gathered Orochimaru has joined a group of S-class Nuke-nins called Akatsuki (Red Moon) recently. I have no knowledge of what their goals are but I assume it to be something big. The only other members I know are Akasuna no Sasori (Scorpion of the Red Sand) and Taki no Kakuzu (Kakuzu of Waterfall)."

"What! The same person who tried to assassinate Shodaime-sama?"

"Hai. He uses a system of hearts from his victims to ensure his immortality."

"Hm... We'll have to see what information Anko has when she wakes up."

"I agree. Why don't you two catch up whilst she wakes. I have my paperwork to get on with." Sarutobi sighed and resignedly went to his desk to carry on with the ever growing pile of paper.

Seimei watched with growing amusement as Sarutobi grumbled and filed and stamped documents.

"Minato-senpai never told you his secret did he Hiruzen?"

"Hm?" Sarutobi listened with half an ear as he read through the report.

"Kage bushin are wonderful things..." and he turned away though his false eye kept on watching. He saw the dawning comprehension in the Gama Sennin's (Toad Sage) eyes. Jiraiya started to chuckle which morphed into booming laughter.

The loud noise interrupted Sarutobi's concentration. He looked annoyed at his student. Through the back of his head Seimei could literally see the cogs in Sarutobi's brilliant mind turn. In years to come Seimei would always be able to remember the exact moment that the method to beating a Kage's ultimate opponent finally came to him.

His jaws clamped tight and the pieces of his pipe fell to the floor. The emotions of consternation at his ignorance, wonderment at the simplicity, and utter joy of defeating his paper-enemy cycled quickly across his face.

Quickly he made a seal and 10 clones popped into existence. Half henged into desks and the other half grabbed a pile each and started to sort them out at their own desks. The real man himself settled down with a contented sigh, lit another pipe and opened an orange book. Soon he perverted giggles could be heard. All the while Jiraiya hadn't stopped laughing. He now had tears running down his cheeks and getting rather red. Seimei was trying to stiffle chuckles himself so as to not jar his ribs but he was getting worried that much more laughter and the great Toad Sage might just suffer heart failure.

It was to this strange scene that Mitarashi Anko awoke to.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ohayo Mitarashi-san. You are now in Konoha, the Hokage's office."

Anko blinked sleepily. When the words registered fully in her mind her eyes widened and she jumped off the couch as if burned. She knelt on the floor, head touching the ground.

"Moushiwake arimasen deshita (I am very sorry) Hokage-sama."

All were surprised by her actions and stilled. All were apalled by the conclusions drawn about Orochimaru's behaviour to justify such an extreme reaction.

Sarutobi crouched to gently persuade her to stand. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her head up so that she could look him in the eyes. Her eyes were wide and fearful whilst his were warm and comforting.

"There is nothing to forgive child. You will not be punished for my student's crimes. Senshi Seimei has told me of your innocence. Come have some dango. You must be famished." He led her over to the couch she had been lying on.

She recognised her saviour and gave a deep bow.

"Domo arigato gozaimasu (thank you very much) Senshi-sama." She also recognised her ex-sensei's former team mate. "Konnichi ha (good afternoon) Jiraiya-sama."

Both gave nods in return. Sarutobi gestured for her to grab a stick of dango. At first she was very self-conscious among obviously very powerful shinobi but when she realised that they were not scrutinising her every movement she relaxed a little and began to enjoy her first food outside of the terror regime of her former master.

The adults talked amongst themselves also enjoying the food. The only made discreet glances every now and again making light conversation to make her feel more at ease. Once they saw that she had eaten her fill they quieted. The other two allowed the Hokage to take the lead.

"Anko-chan. We know you probably do not want to remember all of what we are about to ask you but I must ask that you answer as you are our best source of information on Orochimaru. I am going to go through an oral debriefing. Now, first thing we would like to know is everything you recall about the Akatsuki group Orochimaru joined. When and what do they do?"

Slowly after a lot of questions the three managed to compile a detailed picture of what happened during the two years after Orochimaru defected. They asked questions that flitted from topic to topic in an illogical order so as to not make Anko feel uncomfortable and to prod things that she wasn't aware that she remembered into view. Her answers detailed his dealings, expriments and many bases which he had set up. Unfortunately the session didn't bring anything more into light about the Akatsuki organisation.

Anko was left feeling drained after the long question session. Now they turned to her place of residence. She was not sad at the news of her father dying in the Kyuubi attack as he had all but abandoned her when she entered the Shinobi Academy (her mother died when she was young).

"If I recall correctly there is an apartment free opposite yours Seimei-kun. She is young to be on her own but at least she'll have someone there she is at least more familiar with. Now I am sure Anko-chan is tired and looking forward to a nice bed. I'll just write up the deeds then you can get set up. The apartment is fully furnished so there is no need to get furniture. Come by tomorrow. There are a few things I would like to discuss with you Anko-chan."

Sarutobi puttered off searching in his many cabinets for the right form.

Jiraiya turned to Seimei."Have you thought about completing your mastery. Konoha could do with more Fuuinjutsu experts."

In answer Seimei pulled out a scroll with multiple sealed items and selected one. Out popped a red and gold braided piece of rope.

'I see... and 1st class as well. The rope is red so a person from Hi was your examiner. I only know of myself with a 1st class mastery in Fire..."

"Minato-senpai was my examiner."

"What was your master seal?"

"A Time Manipulation seal. It allows the user to increase or decrease the passage of time within a chamber."

"Wow! So Fuuinjutsu mastery at 14. So... a _strapping intelligent lad_ like yourself... have you got someone you're eyeing?" he gave a leer and a waggle of the eyebrows.

Seimei blanked at the sudden change in conversation dierction, then raised an eyebrow, "..."

"..."

"..."

"...??"

"...no." Jiraiya sweatdropped.

"Here ya go. The first of my Icha Icha series- Icha Icha Paradise." he said finally, tossing over a bright orange covered book with cross signs. "First edition signed by me. You're not 18 but I am sure it is within your capabilities to appreciate such works of art eh, tensai (genius)."

Eyebrow still raised he flicked through the book, scan reading it. He raised his head, "it is... adequate reading I suppose..." This time Jiraiya did trip and slam his face to the floor. Behind him Sarutobi chuckled. Anko giggled and Seimei eye-smiled, pleased with the response.

"Ahem. Well Here you go Anko-chan. Apartment 28 of Shinobi block A is all yours. It is the least I can do in recompense for my wayward student's actions."

Anko scrambled up to recieve them with two hands and a bow, "arigato gozaimasu hokage-sama."

Sarutobi waved them out.

Seimei led Anko to her new home. After settling him in her went to the hospital for a long overdue appointment. He managed to charm his way past staying in the hospital in favour of staying at home. After showering he fell asleep almost immediately resolving to pick up Naruto the day after.

* * *

List of spells and techniques 

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

M: **Cave Inimicum**: Disillusionment spell (lit. look out for the hostile)

M: **Reducto**: Reductor curse (lit. to destroy)

M: **(Pectus) Dissolvare**: (Chest) Collapsing curse (lit. to disintergrate (the chest))

M: **Portus**: Portkey Creation spell (lit. gate)

XX

C:** Kuchiyose: Hebi**: Summon: Snake

C: **Kuchiyose: Sanju Rashoumon**: Summon: (Triple) Demon Gate(s)

C: **Senei (Ta) Jashu**: (Multiple) Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

C: **Kanashibari no Jutsu**: Paralysis technique

C: **Tsuchi Bushin no Jutsu**: Earth Clone technique

C: **Tsurugi no Kusanagi**: Sword of Kusanagi

C: **Katon: Housenka no Jutsu**: Fire style: Mythical Phoenix Fire technique

C: **Fuuton: Daitoppa no Jutsu**: Wind style: Great Wind Breakthrough technique

C: **Rasengan**: Spiral Sphere

C: **Kage Bushin no Jutsu**: Shadow Clone technique

C: **Henge no Jutsu**: Transformation technique

XX

CM: **Shunpo**: Flash-step

CM: **Rasenkigan**: Magical Spiral Sphere

XX


	7. Chapter 7

**The Shadow **

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech" **

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- mores code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

_**Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 7 

Word soon got out that the apprentice to Konoha's most notorious Nuke-nin was back in town. As a result she was ostracised by most of the Konoha civilian population. Most Shinobi were indifferent of her and treated her no differently but there were a few who deliberately went out of their way to make life difficult for her.

Her reputation wasn't helped by the fact that in retaliation she created a façade of a blood-loving kunoichi with an unerring accuracy with pointy objects. The accuracy part was all geniune after hours of training and pointers from her only guardian/friend- Seimei, but the blood-licking part was not.

Sandaime had created a new policy that in times of peace graduation ages should be increased to at least 10, and 12 being the average age of graduation.

Since she was only going to be 10 a few weeks after arriving back in Konoha Sarutobi enrolled her into the Academy for graduation the following March. The enrollment was also in the hopes that she would make friends among her peers after all travelling with a meglomaniac was hardly the ideal atmosphere to make friends. Unfortunately children that age are fickle and follow the behaious of adults who regarded her with sispicion. Her lonliness was compounded by the fact that she was in the rookie of the year despite only just arriving having above genin, but under chuunin skills.

The only time when she was herself was when she was at home or in the company of Seimei and Naruto. Seimei became like an older brother to her and Naruto a younger. In fact the two got on famously. Anko was a clever girl and knew there was something going on with her friend but kept her suspicions to herself as she knew what it was like to keep secrets and she was sure she would find out another day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Seimei knew that Anko was starting to get suspicious. How could she not?

He knew he was disappearing at odd hours, running between his duties as ANBU Commander, Elite Jounin and Naruto-carer. The period of intense missions for the ANBU had still not relented after the year was out and the pace of the average of 2-3 missions a weeks didn't stop. In any time he could spare he was either trying to devise seals for a clone to operate independantly or fiddling with the cursed seal mark on Anko's neck. The mark despite having never been activated drew on Anko's chakra reserves and was a source of constant pain.

Just before Anko's graduation Seimei made a breakthrough on his first project. He managed to create seals for a shadow clone that was self-sustaining, connected to his magical core and would come out of a seal in his room when ever anyone entered his apartment. The clone could also operate any distance away from him and the seal so could leave the apartment and go to the park and buy groceries. It was pretty much as close to another person he could make except Seimei could block him from exiting the when ever he was actually going to be in the apartment and the clone could send him telepathic messages whenever activated.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Despite his constrained time Seimei made the effort of appearing for Anko's graduation ceremony. He had his clone take Naruto to the park whilst he kept the lonely girl company.

When he turned up for the graduation ceremony he was running late and the seats were already taken. As the top student of the year she and the runners up had seats on the podium. Anko sat stiff and blank-faced obviously uncomfortable. There were many glares her way whether because of her ousting their prescious son from the top position or simply being better and although she put up her emotional mask the glares still hurt. She had not said anything about her graduation but Seimei was not so far removed from the child's frame of mind nor from his emotions to not recognise the secret longing for a friendly face at one of the most improtant events in the shinobi career.

As it was Seimei stepped through the Academy gates and ghosted into the shadow of the trees around the sides. Sarutobi spotted the movement from his place on the podium and gave a small smile but continued with his speech without a hitch.

"... and I am proud to present the top student of the graduating year 50 AF (After Founding), kunoichi Mitarashi Anko." He paused to allow polite claps. The appluase was not very large however a sound from beside him more than made up for it.

It seemed his clone had the same idea and had brought Naruto along with him. After hearing his sister's name Naruto burst into enthusiastic cheers, "Nee-chan! Nee-chan! Go Nee-chan! De Best Nee-chan!"

The sound drew Anko's attention as well as the whole audience's. Anko flushed and scowled in their direction, which both Seimeis retorted with eye-smiles, but there was no missing the pleased glint in her eyes and the slight relaxing in posture as she stood straighter and prouder.

"And in recognition of her hard work I am proud to present a fuly stocked emergency pouch and a pouch of ANBU grade kunai. Thank you. That is all."

People started to walk away however many lingered curious as to who the people under the tree were. Sarutobi stepped off the stands and walked over. he blinked at the sight of two of his friends. He peered with concern in his eyes from under his Hokage hat at the one he guessed to be the real one- the one with eye-bags.

"You haven't had a week off yet have you?"

"..."

"I can't have you falling off your feet on missions Seimei-kun. You should have stold me. I'll arrange for you to have the next week off."

"Iie... I'll survive," he gave a wan smile and tried as best as he could to hide his tiredness. He had pushed to get back from a mission that got complicated with a team of chuunins. Many of whom had been injured but thankfully no lives lost. "You cannot afford to. I am needed." Sarutobi looked skeptical. Sarutobi was not going to allow Seimei to run himself to the ground only to get killed on a routine mission- he was too valuable. In a last attempt to convince his friend he said, "I know my limits. I'll come to you when I reach them."

Sarutobi acquiesed only because the truth was that as the best shinobi and ANBU Shikikan he was an important resource and in the current state of things could not afford to not be used.

"But you will come to me and not just take a day of sleep as R&R." Seimei bowed his head.

Sarutobi turned away, the matter closed. Sarutobi smiled and looked at his grandson-in-everything-but-blood. Naruto spotted Sarutobi from where he was chattering to his 'nee-chan'. He slid off his seat on the stand and tottered over to the Hokage.

"Jiisan! (Grandpa)" The lingering people didn't bother to hide their stares at the familiarity. They looked about for his ANBU guards to jump in and scold the child but none did. Both Seimeis looked at the nosy individuals and glared until they looked away abashed at having been caught staring.

Naruto came closer to Sarutobi and held up his hands demanding to be picked up. Sandaime obliged and ignoring everyone started to coo and talk in baby. He was also a busy man and had had little time to see his blonde grandson.

Behind him Anko walked towards the group shyly. Seimei rarely showed his emotions, even at home, in private.

_A culmination of years of training from a young age does that I guess... blunts the emotions..._

However he knew that Anko needed reassuring.

_She may have had to grow up faster than most but everyone needs comfort some of the time_

He held out a hand. Anko needed no encouragement and rushed towards him- the only friend she knew. Seimei embraced her awkwardly but sincerely.

"You didn't think I would miss your shinobi graduation did you Anko-chan?" he injected just a hint of humour in his voice which, after months of staying near him, she could pick out. Anko said nothing but buried her head in his chest, throat too clogged up to speak. She was a mix of emotions but mainly she was overjoyed that there was someone there to see her graduate.

"You've got your hitai-ate now. By law it means you are now an adult. I am free for the rest of today and I have arranged for a surprise celebratory dinner. Is that agreeable?"

Anko nodded in his embrace. Seimei hesitated then placed a kiss on her hair. "Come on. The first place we'll go is look for some new shinobi clothing." Seimei gave a nod to Sarutobi, who was still playing with Naruto, acknowledged the nod with a slight tipping of his hat.

Whispers followed the duo as they exited the Academy grounds. No doubt the infamous shinobi grapevine will have spread the word throughout the village that Mitarashi Anko had the support and protection of the famous Black Flash.

_Hopefully it will lessen the harsh looks... but I doubt it- people are dumb_

With an arm around Anko he moved in te direction of the main shopping street of Konoha. Anko detatched herself from his chest and had brighter-than-normal eyes but Seimei didn't comment on them. He directed them towards a Ninja-All-Pupose store. The store owner was Higurashi Kajiya- otherwise known as the former ANBU Quartermaster Tetsu.

When they entered the shop there was a tinkle of a bell as the door touched them. Kajiya looked up from the counter and upon seeing who his customers were he got off his seat and hurried to welcome them.

"Irasshaimasu Genin-san, Seimei." He gave a nod to Anko and clasped forearms with Seimei.

"Tetsu," replied Seimei referring to his mask name. "Anko-chan here is looking for an outfit. Her current one is getting a bit worn."

She was currently wearing long shorts and a T-shirt with shinobi sandals. Although there were no holes in the material it was obvious that it was wearing thin.

"Hmm... well 10 percent discount on all her things. I remember _my_ graduation present. Well get choosing Anko-san. The image you project to the world is important." He shooed her off into the clothes section before turning to Seimei. "She's the bastard's apprentice."

"And?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing... I trust your judgement Shikikan-sama."

"To alleviate your curiosity I will tell you this. She is innocent of everything. She was forced away under duress and continues to reap the consequences of courting his displeasure."

_though not if I can reverse engineer that thing_

Kajiya nodded satisfied. He was like most of the shinobi population and regarded her with indifference, giving her the chance to prove herself, but knowing she had the trust of a good judge of character gave him a peace of mind.

Conversation over they turned to the selection which Anko had picked out.

She had picked out a tight fitting red top with a mini-skirt and a longer netting hot pants. Over it all she wore a tan trench-coat reminiscent of his own except with sleeves. She presented herself to her friend anxious for an opinion.

He looked closely at each piece of clothing and analysed it usefulness in the field... and found it wanting.

In reply he stalked past her and looked for, in his opinion, more suitable kunoichi wear. He came out half a minute later having estimates her size.

"Here. A top is useless if it is only a bit of material. Wear this underneath... or not if you so choose. If you are going for a provocative image you might as well go all the way. Next. Your legs are unprotected. You will not be faster than every opponent you come across and your legs are bare. And try coat."

She came out five minutes later. This time after surveying her he gave a nod of satisfaction. Kajiya whistled.

She was now wearing a steel mesh top over a very fine light grey silk top. She still had her miniskirt but this time with the same style steel mesh netting hot pants. On her legs she wore ANBU style shin guards. The trench coat was unchanged except it now had a high steel lined collar to protect the neck. With her natural grace the image shouted danger and I-am-not-to-be-f**ked-with. it gave the illusion of revealing all but really showed nothing.

Anko pinked a bit under their gaze but felt satisfied with the eye-smile she was given.

Seimei went to the counter to pay for everything. He wrote out a check to pay for everything. Shinobi equipment was expensive as the users needed the quiality guaranteed to not fail in the field but with all the missions he was clocking up he had more money than he could spend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The pair visited several other places including the theatre and attending a tea ceremony- a secret love of hers. In the space before dinner Seimei took her to the newly opened shinobi adventure fun ground located. It was like the civilian children playground with climbing frames moving swings etc but was more adventurous and for all ages. It was more like an assault course but without the excessive danger. It was for all ages and abilities spanning a mile square area.

Just for that hour Seimei made himself forget that he was an elite jounin and ANBU Shikikan and enjoy himself like a normal 17 year old. They were sweaty but grinning by the time dinner time came.

Seimei took her to a private room in the Dango restaurant where Naruto was waiting. Seimei had ordered nothing but dango for dinner. The sweets were her favourite food. They were a symbol of freedom for her and it didn't hurt that the owner treated her with kindness.

There were a few presents left to give.

In the corner was one from the owner and his family. Anko opened the package and saw a range of poisons along with a note.

'Give your enemies no quarter little-snake- Dango shop owners'

Seimei unsealed a pair of gloves.

"Here. I have a bit of skill with metal work. The gloves contain seals at the tips and when you insert chakra sharp metal points emerge to give your taijutsu style extra leathality. Poisons once applied will remain even when they go back into the seal. The seal is keyed to your signature so only you may activate them. The fingers are also reinforced so you don't break any fingers with your jabbing."

Anko accepted with a genuine smile. They complemented her Hebi-style taijutsu with precision strikes at nerve points.

"Nee-chan! Nee-chan! Mine!" He pushed a scrol towards her. With coloured crayons he had drawn three stick figures with white-streaked black hair, yellow and purple hair. It was obvious what the picture showed. In Seimei's flowing script the word 'Nakama' (friend/family/comrades). Blinking away tears she gave Naruto a hug and a kiss.

Anko leaned back and enjoyed the dango and friendly atmosphere. No matter what the world may think of her and secrets her friend may have she knew that she would always have someone to fall back on. There would be someone she could fully relax with and that was enough for her.

* * *

It was late one night whilst he was for once relaxing in his actual home giving the finishing touches to his sculpture of Minato triumphant after the battle that earned him the name of Kiiro Senkou no Konoha (Yellow Flash of Konoha)

_right before he collapsed in exhaustion of course_

Thought Seimei wryly. He was dressed in nothing but shinobi pants, his mask and eye-patch. Of course his ANBU marks and dragon summons mark were covered by a magic illusion but he left the black wolf head tattoo just over his heart visible. The tattoo was the size of a child's palm and was given to him when he was just three as it concealed a security seal of his now-ceased-to-exist birth-village. He was sat on a couch that seemed brand new despite having been bought over a dozen years ago, obviously having seen little use. Naruto was asleep in his cot in the Seimei's room and all was silent except for the scraping of metal against wood.

_... there... finished..._

Seimei leaned back to observe his art in the light of the moon. He was pleased with the likeness. In one hand he held a tri-pronged kunai that would become his signature move, and the other held a normal kunai in reverse grip. It was a quintessential picture of what was Namikaze Minato. He managed to capture the bright eyed sense of accomplishment at using his technique on such a scale but also a slight slump of exhaustion of the shoulders. It was subtle but reminded all who could see that all deeds had a price, no matter how significant.

_... but you always knew that every action had an equal an opposite reaction, didn't you senpai_...

He lifted his gaze from the sculpture and to the etheral silvery full moon that hung in the sky. Eye staring but not seeing the scene before him, mind lost in memories. Unconsciously he began stroking Tsuki's midnight black fur when she jumped up beside him.

In this apartment he could really relax, even his false eye was still in its socket, staring in unison with his biological eye. His home was more secure than the ANBU HQ with alarms and wards of both chakra and magic to alert him of anyone approaching. The apartment was not locked and instead relied on various seals keyed in to his, Anko's and Naruto's chakra signature.

Everything was going well. Naruto was growing up, his third birthday having just gone by. Anko was now a chuunin after performing well in the Kiri exams. His workload was now down to one mission a week as either a jounin or ANBU, though with Kumo signing the peace treaty he would be very busy with security preparations over the next month.

It would have been likely that he would have remained on his couch in a semi-meditative/semi-sleeping state until the morning were it not for a insistent tingling in the back of his mind notifying him of someone tripping the outer-most perimeter ward.

Shaking himself from his reverie he focused on the present. His false eye swung to see who was just beyond his door. To his surprise his late-night visitor was none other than Hyuuga Hiashi. Seimei's eyebrow rose.

_what brought a stoic and always proper clan head to his door at 0000?_

Quietly he slipped off the couch and padded to the door. Tsuki opened a yellow eye to watch who it was but didn't bother to get up. Just as Hiashi made to knock Seimei opened the door. They stood in silence for a second before Hiashi spoke.

"One day I will find out how you do that."

"When I take pity on you no doubt," Seimei replied, with a a hint of humour in his voice. "... and what can I do for the Hyuuga Clan Head tonight?"

"Just some companionship," he said raising two bottles of high quality sake, "and an invitation."

"Go ahead into the living room. I'll get us some cups." Seimei turned to allow him entrance and waved his hand in the direction of the lounge, lighting some dim side lights in the dark room whilst he went in to the kitchen.

Hiashi stood shocked, transfixed by the mass of scar tissue on Seimei's back. Scars crisscrossed his back- whip marks, burn marks and even signs of where whole pieces of flesh had been ripped out. He had known that his friend had scars from his 3 month stay as a POW in Iwa because he and his genin team had only managed to escape their captivity due to his effort however Hiashi had never seen the extent of the damage. Hiashi thought back to when he first met Seimei. How he had been forced to ensure the security of the village by killing one of the genin who had broken under interrogation. He remembered Seimei had deliberately provoked the Tsuchikage in order to distract him from the sharingan eyes of one of his genins resulting in the eye-patch today. Hiashi also remembered Seimei not say a peep nor show any discomfort on their flight back to the village.

From the shadows Seimei's voice jolted him from his melancholy thoughts. "The past is the past Hiashi... and the scars are not as bad as they seem..." Hiashi pinked at having been caught staring. Seimei was not embarrassed about his scars however there was a reason why he seldom went to the public baths. Injecting some humour into his voice he suggested, "and what about those drinks you promised me?"

"Sumimasen Seimei." Hiashi bowed.

Seimei waved away the apology and motioned for him to enter. Hiashi did so and shut the door behind him. He greeted Tsuki and sat down on a chair. He set down the bottles of alcohol and marvelled at the statue.

"This is simply brilliant... any chance I can commission one for my wife?"

Seimei gave an eye-smile but said nothing. He had poured out the sake and gave a cup to the clan head. Hiashi accepted the cup and threw it back before seeming to melt into the chair. Seimei was astonished at his normally imperturbable friend. He was obviously worked up about something so he waited patiently, after all even the most composed had times when they broke. In the meanwhile he could enjoy expensive sake.

Hiashi knew this tactic and knew that eventually he would speak of his problems but to start off with them would be impermissibly rude and uncouth.

"So how have you been? I haven't seen you around much."

"Everyone's been busy... will be even busier with the treaty but I have had some interesting missions though..." they talked about life in general and Seimei got to see a side of Hiashi that few saw- passionate, less cynical side to the 32 year old jounin. He did feel a bit guilty about the small lies he was giving, but he had given his word to the Hokage that his double life would remain a secret for as long as possible to as many people as possible.

Seimei was however honoured that another felt secure enough in his presence and in his home to let down their figurative mask they showed to the wider world. It would be unseemly for a man of his station to be seen or heard in his present state, and some might even say be seen with him, hence the need to sneak out in the middle of the night.

Finally after more than halfway through the alcohol Hiashi breached the topic that had brought him to Seimei in the first place.

"The _honoured_ elders," he practically spat those words, "feel it is necessary to place the Hyuuga Souke no Juin Justu on my nephew, Neji, who is only four. Just because 'zashi was born one minute later he and the rest of his line belong in the Bunke (branch family)..." Hiashi chugged down another cup, trying to push all his anger into the burning feeling that was going down his throat due to the alcohol. It was all that he could do to not chuck the porcelein on the wall in frustration.

_ah... so this is what was bothering him... I'll have to look into that one day...  
_

"... and your decision?"

Hiashi shot him a glare. "I refused of course. They know full well that using the seal on such a young developing brain has a high risk of impairing the growth of the child. In response of course they began to pile in on other demands. This is the first night I've not felt as tired and have oppurtunity to get away from it all... SHIMATTA! (damn it!)" Hiashi gave in to the impulse to swear, his composure truly broken. "'zashi and I have to still operate under the yoke of the elders but I'll be damned if the family remain separated forever!"

Seimei allowed him to rant knowing it was 'good for the soul'. This was probably the only place where he could rant without any damaging consequences. After several minutes of swearing that would make a sailor blush- Seimei was glad for the silencing charms he had placed on his apartment- Hiashi finally calmed down. Seimei knew that the real power in all the large clans really lay in the elders, not the Clan Head. Generally both parties were in accord however when they were not the elders were not afraid to use their considerable influences to force the Clan Head into a corner. Wanting more information on the situation Seimei prodded for details.

"So... what was the verdict?"

"They said they will wait."

"And does Hizashi know about this?" Seimei didn't know a lot about his friend's twin other than he was a branch member and was as skilled as Hiashi was himself, if not more.

"Iie. He was not allowed into the council chamber... and I have not mentioned it to him."

Seimei could offer nothing. It was an internal affair and was really up to Hiashi. Seimei never had the same pressure. Sure he had had a brother-in-all-but-blood they had shared everything being the only two children in ther village at the time.

Seimei's thoughts drifted to his deceased brother.

_Aniki... if only you were here- I know you would be laughing... I was never the talkative and outgoing one and yet so many people come to me_...

Seimei glanced over the rim his cup at his friend who was downing the alcohol like water.

_hmm... never pegged you to be a heavyweight Hiashi... better stop it before he goes too far..._

"Ahem... you mentioned something about an invitation?..."

Hiashi swung his head over from where he was glaring at the wall and blinked blearily. He spoke with little slurring.

"Huh? Oh... December 27th is my daughter's 3rd birthday. It's gonna b- _going to be_ a big affair as she will be formally recognised as heir."

"I would be honoured to attend. Will there be many children present?"

"Hai. Most of the other clan heirs will be there... though I don't think the Uchiha will remain for long."

The Uchiha and Hyuuga were long time rivals for power within the council. It was not like the bitter enmity between the alomst-gone Senju and Uchiha clans but close.

"May I bring Naruto also?"

"Who?... ah... the child of your former ANBU team mate, correct?... why not? Hinata will enjoy another playmate."

"Arigato."

The pair chatted for a bit longer. It was close to dawn when they finished the sake with Hiashi consuming considerably more. As Hiashi got up to leave he swayed a bit, clearly not as steady on his feet as he thought. Seimei sighed and got up. It would not do for the Clan Head to start the day hungover especially when there was no reason for him to be. Seimei was feeling a pleasant buzz but was functional and feeling none worse for wear without a night's sleep.

"Allow me to get dressed- I might as well start work now. I'll take you home."

In short order he was dressed as normal and placed a hand on Hiashi's shoulder. Without a sound he apparated Hiashi into his study. Hiashi was still quite out of it and Seimei doubted he would remember any of the last few hours. He led his friend to his room and cast sobering and sleeping charms. He switched Hiashi's current clothing for sleepwear installed him in bed. With luck he would wake after a few hours only slightly headachy.

Seimei left the house to start his day in the same way he entered with none of the rest of the clan any wiser of his coming and going.

* * *

List of spells and techniques 

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

M:

XX

C: **Hyuuga Souke no Juin Jutsu**: Hyuuga Head Family Cursed Seal technique

XX

CM:

XX


	8. Chapter 8

**The Shadow **

Disclaimer: Any references to HP or Naruto are purely for enjoyment. There is no profit from it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"Bijuu/Boss summon speech" **

"Human speech"

:Silent speech-- mores code, sign language, etc:

_Human thoughts_

_**Bijuu/Boss summon thoughts**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 8

The arrival of the Kumo delegation came with much fanfare.

The village was spruced up and people came out in their best clothing to greet them. Civilians and shinobi lined the streets to see the group of 20 Kumo shinobi. The procession was calm and peaceful without any incidents.

For Seimei however the run up had been anything but. For the past week he had been working non-stop in every little detail. This would be the first event since the Kyuubi attack that foreign ninja were to be allowed into the village. No doubt the rest of the elemental continent would be watching closely and at the report the Kumo shinobi would be making on Konoha's defences and state of affairs in the aftermath of the attack. As ANBU Black Ops Shikikan he was incharge of the whole ANBU corps and was his job to maintain security during the visit and as a result had gotten barely any sleep.

_and I have to be up to meet them beside Hiruzen... I could be in bed!_

His only consolation was that all the rest of the shinobi council had to be here as well meaning the Yamanaka clean head

_... who just happens to be the T&I Shikikan..._

The delegation was about 50 meters away. Seimei sneaked a peak at his fellow commander noticing the slight slump of tired shoulders and surprisingly make up on the face.

:to hide the eye bags probably:

:well, if I have to suffer less sleep because of Kumo I think at least another of my commanders should as well:

Seimei shot a smirk at Inoichi who caught the movement of his face mask and straightened, narrowing his eyes slightly.

_No doubt thinking I will reveal other things that will throw him off balance_

[Flashback]

It was a week before the Kumo peace treaty delegation were set to arrive. Seimei was in his ANBU office waiting for the other Shikikan.

The first to arrive was the the Oinin Shikikan. Seimei gestured for her to take a seat around his desk. Soon the others filed in and took their seats as well. Once the last had arrived Seimei activated the privacy barriers. The seals around the room glowed confirming their activation. Seimei sat down behind his desk and began.

"I have called you here together because as you know Kumo will be sending in a sizable force of elite jounin in a weeks time. I will require the cooperation of all five divisions to create a village wide security plan. The bulk of the security detail over the whole moth they are staying will be from my division however I cannot use all of my squads as missions need to be done.

It will be difficult to create a good plan if we are not familiar with each other. You all know me as the black Ops Shikikan and only one of you know who I actually am. The rest of you have only been in the Shikikan position for 3 years or less. It was my choice to no reveal my true identity until you are at least 2 years in the position however this is as good an oppurtunity as any."

Seimei gestured for them to remove their masks as he did.

"Senshi Seimei at your service." He gave a bow, eye-smiling and watched their reaction.

The Intelligence commander, who had known his identity beforehand was also enjoying their reactions.

When they worked out who he was they were shocked. The Oinin commander was the first to speak.

"B-but you came to the position 5 years ago- I read up your file, though the name was blacked out."

"Oh?" Seimei raised an eyebrow.

"You would have been 14!!!"

"Well what else do you expect of _the_ tensai?" The Inuzuka tracker-nin gave a bark of laughter. He continued. "Genin at four, chuunin in the same year, recieving his green star just before his fifth birthday, jounin at 8 and a half. He shoved all the records back into the faces of the uppity Uchiha and Hyuuga- no offense to yourself Hyuuga-san," He apologised to the Intel Shikikan who waved it off. "For all their posturing none of them can boast such a distinguished record, and from a non-kekkei genkai (bloodline limit) person as well."

At Seimei's questioning look she answered. "The Inuzuka are proud fo one of their own and all in the clan know of the only other person given Inuzuka dog tags since the Shodaime."

The last person to speak was the T&I commander, the Yamanaka clan head.

"To borrow a phrase from Shika'. Mendoukusai (troublesome)... I guess I should have seen it. Neither of you mentioned you specifically leaving the corps and he did refer in passing his squad teichou (captain) had a Hyou (panther) mask. I know you go on missions as a jounin- I researched your files. The mission stats are different in both files...?"

"t seems I am well reseached in both identities I see... hai, I have a double roles. Hokage-sama thought it was in the best interests of Konoha and the marales of the shinobi during the war for me to be seen alongside konoha no Kiiroi Senkou. As for the mission stats, they are separate. The missions I go on as jounin go into my jounin file and those done as ANBU go in ANBU."

"You are human, correct? Need food and sleep like the rest of us?"

Seimei gave a genuine laugh. "Ha! Hai. I assure you I need the same things... lets just say I have eaten enough energy bars for 10 lifetimes over and have learnt to catch some sleep even in the most uncomfortable of situations. After all it is said that: that which does not kill you makes you stronger."

[Flashback end]

Seimei moved himself out of his day dreaming and gave a minute shake of his head in Inoichi's direction. He relaxed and faced the front.

Seimei also focussed his attention on the delegation now only a few meters away from the Hokage Tower where the reception group were standing. Sarutobi stood in the middle and to the front. His advisors Homura and Koharu stood to the left and slightly behind him. Danzo stood to the left of them. Seimei stood at Sarutobi's right hand in recognition of him being the next strongest shinobi. The rest of the council were ranged on wither side of himself and Danzo.

With him Seimei had Tsuki and Ken, who had only just recently returned from finding a mate, on his shoulder. As the group go closer he stood straighter so did his companions and from the way the head ninja darted his eyes towards him Seimei felt his message was clear- you are in OUR village. We have the terrtorial advantage. Try anything and you'll regret it.

Seimei had never really liked Kumo ever since they killed his brother, crippled his team mate and nearly kill his squad leader of that mission. They had in advertantly crossed paths with the BOLT squad on their way back from a mission when the elite force decided to attack without provocation. It turned out that Kumo had been coordinating with Iwa a strike on Hi no Kuni (Fire country). The information gathered was the spark that changed the Cold War into the Third Great Shinobi War.

His shift was a signal to the surrounding ANBU. Suddenly they became more prominent to shinobi senses and could be clearly seen on the rooftops surrounding the area. Of course to civilians the difference was not noted but that was deliberate so as not to worry the populace.

Finally the group stopped. The head ninja gave a deep bow.

"Ohayo gozaimasu (good morning) Hokage-sama, Shinobi-san, Kunoichi-san. Kumokage-sama sends his warmest greetings."

"Ohayo Gashira-san. Konohagakure no Sato e youkoso (welcome to the Village Hidden in the Leaves). I am sure your men are weary from your journey and would like a chance to freshen up. We will talk more later. I have booked rooms in our finest hotel for you. We will meet at 0900 tomorrow to discuss the treaty." He signalled for a jounin to lead them away. For a moment Gashira looked outraged at the dismissal but then it was quickly hidden away however all those present caught the slip and would be wary.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Arigato."

As the strongest ninja barring the Hokage- ANBU were not officially acknowledged as being affiliated with the Konoha Shinobi Force, he was to be present for the actual signing of the treaty along with Sarutobi's three advisers. The treaty would give economic prosperity to both nations but the treaty conceded the larger share of power to Konoha. In all his years as a shinobi Seimei had never seen such a quick diplomacy session and the political jostling was merely a formality with little of the treaty changed.

In Seimei's mind an alarm bell was ringing. Kumo was giving in too easily but he could think of nothing that Kumo could try. They knew that to deliberately start trouble in a foreign shinobi village would be suicidal. However, he didn't mention his concerns to his friend but he did resolve to warn the ANBU to be extra vigilant.

The next few weeks went without a hitch. There were always four ANBU on surveilance for each group should they separate or 8 if they were in one large group. At least 2 were on the ground tailing and two or more on the roofs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day of Hinata's heir ceremony came. Seimei arrived at the Hyuuga estate dressed in a formal silver-trimmed black kimono. Seimei still had his mask, eyepatch and gloves on but then he never took them off unless necessary. Naruto walked alongside him in an orange-trimmed blue kimono. Naruto had an obsession with orange and owned many pieces of orange clothing however Seimei drew the line for today and insisted that he dressed in a less glaring colour. Naruto fussed so Seimei had to allow for some orange.

the Hyuuga at the gate bowed.

"Konban wa (good evening) Senshi-dono, Uzumaki-san." The guard glanced at Seimei's arms hidden in the sleeves of his clothing. He opened his mouth to comment but Seimei cut him off.

"You have my word that no bare steel shall be drawn this evening. They are a precautionary only." To his forearms were strapped a pair of beautifully made daggers. Seimei only ever never had them on him when bathing and even then they were in seals inked to his skin for release in a moments notice.

The guard hesitated but in the end nodded and allowed them through.

Seimei was led to a large reception room where he was pleased to see that he was neither the first nor the last to arrive. Hinata and her family were seated in the far end of the room. The birthday girl was doing an admirable job of looking alert but anyone worth their salt could see that she was bored.

_... and rightly so. She has probably been sitting there for an hour already waiting to the guests to arrive..._

Seimei kept a firm hand on Naruto to keep him by his side and not run off to where the other heirs were standing beside their parents. All the children would have to wait for all the guests to have arrived and given their presents and well wishes before they could run off. Through the walls he could see a series of tables laden with food in the garden for guests to eat at their leisure as they socialised.

Seimei stood next to some shinobi and or some important civilian. They made no attempts to engage him in conversation for which he was grateful. He was never the talkative type. Finally after about 15 minutes a gong was struck. All the guests had arrived and been accounted for.

A seneschal started to speak.

"Thank you sirs and madams, Lords and Ladies for attending..."

Seimei blocked out the rest of the speech. He could feel Naruto bouncing impatiently beside him. Seimei amused himself by matching animals to faces.

"... pleased to declare Hyuuga Hinata, daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi and Hyuuga Haruki, the 205th heir of the Hyuuga clan."

Everyone gave a polite applause. The seneschal turned and gave a deep bow to Hinata and retreated. it was time for the present giving. Again Seimei and Naruto were neither the first nor the last to give their presents. Everyone remained in the same room until all the presents had been given. With nearly all of important figures in the Village having been invited, the party was more of a political social event. Everything woule be turned into a political dance even the present giving. All eyes would be on the tastefulness of the gift which could either disadvantage or be advantageous to the givers position in the politcal pecking order. As the Hokge's right-hand-man he was a relatively important figure in Konoha and was expected to participate in the games and jockeying.

_... but I will play by my rules..._

It was his and Naruto's turn.

He and Naruto walked up to the raised dais. Seimei knelt and sat in the seiza position, Naruto copied, and gave a half bow.

"Konban wa Hime-chan (little-princess)," there were a few muffled gasps. They waited for a reprimand from the clan head that never came. Hiashi's only reaction was a twitch of the lips which told the audience that he was favoured in the Hyuuga household- the eyes people who were beside him when they were waiting widened and their eyebrows rose in surprise. Seimei was sure they were kicking themselves for rudely ignoring him earlier. But Seimei gave no outward reaction to the sounds and carried on. "Tanjoubi omedetou (happy brithday)."

With a slight flourish he unsealed her present, without any excess smoke, from his right glove. he held the present with both hands, palms up, as was proper.

Tentatively Hinata took hold of the present. The present was a carved wooden box with the Hyuuga symbol on top. There was a card made by Naruto stuck on with chakra. The card was read and carefully placed on the side. Then slowly she opened the box. When the lid was fully open the box started playing music with delicate filigree figurines moving in time with the music. It was a present that couldn't be bought as all the parts were made by Seimei himself right down to the strengthening seals discreetly placed on the present.

Hinata gave a gasp and a genuine smile. "Arigato gozaimasu."

Seimei nodded and they got up to retake their places by the wall. Seimei waited patiently by the side. One guest that surprised him was the head ninja of the Kumo delegation.

_though I suppose it shows off the beneficience of Konoha if we allow the attendance of a newly signed 'ally' into the home of one of the most prestigious clan in the village _

When all the presents had been given Hinata stood up and gave a bow.

"Arigato gozaimasu mina-san (everyone). The gifts are wonderful and I thank you for taking the time to attend this celebration. There are refreshments in the garden." she said in a clear but soft voice. The diction was remarkable

_but then I suppose as a important clan the children are trained from birth..._

Not wanting to linger Seimei escaped via the shadows into the garden, taking Naruto with him. He was the first to arrive and saw a Hyuuga with the same features as the clan head supervising the laying out of the tables.

_so this is Hiashi's twin. Now where is his son?... ah... there he is..._

He spotted Neji in the shadow of his father. Hizashi saw him and hurried over.

"Moushiwake arimasen (I am sorry). I had not anticipated the you to be out here so quickly. The full selection of refreshments will presented shortly."

"Shinpai shinaide (don't worry) Hizashi-san. I am not offended. The other guests will probably not be out for another 10 minutes. I left quickly to escape the other guests."

Whilst the adults were talking Naruto was overjoyed to see someone his own age. Over the years Naruto had lost most of his shyness and had a very loud and out-going personality which could only be curbed by his nii-san.

But he didn't forget his manners. He stepped up to Neji, who had trailed after his father, and bowed.

"Watashi no namae wa Uzumaki Naruto (my name is Uzumaki Naruto). Namae wa nan desu ka (what is your name)?"

"Watashi no namae wa Hyuuga Neji."

Naruto dropped the solemn tone and took Neji's hand. He looked up at his guardian.

"Nii-san. Can I go get food now?"

Seimei eye-smiled and nodded. Neji looked at his father who smiled and pushed him in the direction that Naruto was dragging him in.

"Go on musuko (son)."

_go make a friend_

He turned to Seimei.

"I am afraid we must part company for now. The other guests have arrived and I must attend to them."

Seimei nodded.

_methinks Hiashi has not told him about the elders' move for the seal on his son... he is definitely less weighed down by the demands of the clan- much more contented with his position in life..._

Seimei took a selection of food and a cup of water and wandered off to see the rest of the garden. The main area of the garden where most of the guests would remain was well lit by many braziers. The other parts of the garden- the large koi pond and wonderful flower beds were tastlefully lit by soft warm lights. Seimei leaned on the stone wall of the bridge that connected one end of the koi pond with the other and relaxed in the calm atmosphere.

One part of his mind kept an eye on his charge whislt the other part drifted thinking of nothing in particular. After a while he noticed someone walking towards him. They remainedin companionable silence.

"A beautiful night is it not Seimei-san?"

There was not a cloud in the sky and the stars could be seen twinkling like diamonds on a velvet backdrop.

"Hai. A clear night for a precious daughter Hyuuga-dono." He finally faced her and gave a shallow bow.

"Haruki, please. That was a lovely present you gave Hina-chan. it was certainly unique. May I enquire where you got it?"

"I am afraid you will find no other Haruki-san. I created the whole thing myself."

"Sugoi (amazing)! You _are_ a man of many talents." She touched him on the arm. "I sincerely thank you for being there for my husband. He was much more relaxed the few days after he snuck out." She gave a small laugh at his raised eyebrow. "Yes, I did know he left the house and came back very late- or should I say very early the next day. Him getting back into bed woke me up a little." She clarified.

"Ah... yes. Hiashi did come to me to rant a little, however he did bring some excellent sake."

"Yes. I think the elders noticed some were missing as well."

She gave a muted squeak as strong arms encircled her waist. Hiashi laid his chin on her shoulder.

"Whispering secrets are we koi' (short for: koibito = sweetheart)."

She smiled softly and gave him a peck on the cheek. Seimei sighed internally at the couple and left to let them have a rare snatched private moment together. On the way past the bridge he cast a one-way slight blurring charm to dissuade any peekers.

For the rest of the evening he stayed close to the children and spoke to an occasional guest. Others, like Shikaku, Inoichi and Chouza, also had a similar idea so they stayed in one corner and, apart from the rare comment or two, they stood in the easy silence of brothers-in-arms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

:Seimei!:

Seimei woke instantly. His eyes snapped open and he sprung out of bed. His daggers were out and poised to throw. He assessed the situation and found no immediate threats so he relaxed from his ready position.

:Hai?:

:There is an urgent situation. Kumo shinobi has two captive cubs. My pack has him surrounded but we cannot stop him without injuring the pups. He is heading in the direction of the other group. There are people chasing and they smell angry. Hurry:

Before the message from Tsuki was halfway through Seimei was already moving to get dressed.

_well so much for a good night's sleep..._

The delegation had started on their journey home only a few hours earlier,

_and obviously security decided to relax..._

Seimei opened the window and shot out, moving in the direction of his bonded.

:Ken:

:Aniki?:

:I need you up in the air. Scout along the North path and send me an image once you see a group of shinobi:

:On it:

Seimei was shunpoing all the way. His dash and use of the flash step attracted the attention of the squad of ANBU on the nightwatch and they hastened to follow him. Unfortunately they could not match his speed and were soon outpaced.

Just as he passed the village gates Ken, his falcon, had sent him an image. It was a snapshot of a large group of shinobi with a lone shinobi not too far behind. Bearing up from behind him was a group of 5 Hyuuga, and two regular jounin- probably part of the wall patrol, with Hiashi leading. True to Tsuki's sense of smell Hiashi's normal calm features were tight and slightly drawn up in a snarl. Things were about to get nasty.

Seimei hastened his pace pushing more chakra and magic to get further with each step.

By the time he had arrived things were getting out of hand. Hiashi stood over the body of a dead ninja shielding his daughter and nephew who looked a bit shocked but unhurt and the group of 10 or so Kumo shinobi were moving forward in retaliation and the remaining Hyuuga were coming to meet them.

:Tsuki. Surround and separate:

Seimei allowed gravity to do its work and dropped himself to the ground. He spread out a large disc of chakra around his feet and landed without a sound but kicked up a lot of dust and grit. The combatants shied away and shielded their eyes with their arms. He landed with his back to Konoha in front of Hiashi.

His voice rang out in the silence, cold as the deepest winter in Yuki no Kuni (Snow country).

"Taehateru!" (Cease completely!)

"N-" began one of the Kumo ninja as he stepped forward.

He was cut off by snarls echoing from the surrounding forest. A pack of wolves surrounded the whole group emerged from the shadows. Two lines of wolves converged on Seimei. By far the largest was Tsuki who was pitch black and the only distinguishable features were the glowing golden eyes and sharp white teeth. The other wolves also had their hackles raised and fur on end which doubled their size. They were tense and awwaited only an order to spring.

Seimei allowed the wolves a bit longer before stepping in.

"Enough." he waited for the snarling to subside though the teeth were still shown. "One of your own was caught kidnapping two Konoha civilians so all of you will return to Konoha for questioning... you will be released once you have been cleared of taking part in the event."

The shinobi closest to him spoke up.

"You have no right-"

"Chinmoku! (silence!)" he ordered with a burst of KI. He paused then carried on in his cold manner, "... this is a non-negotiable issue. You have been implicated by the actions of your leader."

Most of the shinobi saw sense and began moving however he saw there were a few, mainly from the ninja furthest away from him, who banded together and gathered strength to resist his bold kunoichi spoke for them all.

"I-," she faltered under his impassive gaze then carried on with the silent support of her peers. "I refuse to return to Konoha, and under what jurisdiction are you ordering us anyway. We are out side of your village and you cannot force us to. We out number you. We will not leave this spot until you come back with a written missive from the Hokage authorising such..." she trailed off as if noticing the sudden silence for the first time. Even her supporters were shying away a little. They hadn't thought she would go so far.

All around him Seimei could hear intakes of breath. She was young and probably did not connect his reputation with him, or she may just not have known. In any case the other shinobi were tense, wondering what his response would be.

For Seimei a headache the size of Konoha was building up. It also didn't help matters when the heavens decided to open. The patter of rain was like the constant beating of a drum on his skull.

_now this is getting seriously annoying... first stupid rookies, now a stubborn kunoichi with no self-preservation..._

Seimei was tired having had no sleep at all for the past five days in the run up to the Kumo shinobi's departure as he was anticipating an incident of some kind involving the foreign ninja. Unfortunately the surveillance groups for the last few days consisted of new ANBU scarcely 6 months in the corps who insisted on alerting him for every minor detail, as he was the head of the operation, and he could hardly ignore them despite their useless nature in case a major situation occured. His fatigue was compounded upon by the fact that his body, already craving sleep, had tasted the sweet oblivion for an hour or two and now was even more desperate for it. He had officially reached the end of his tether.

This time he let his KI go, barely checked.

"Iie... No... unlike _you_ Kunoichi-_san_ we Konoha shinobi do not run to the Hokage for every minutiae. There is, in Konoha, a trust that shinobi can _think_.... You _will_ be returning to Konoha- that is a certainty. Whether you arrive by your own steam or over the shoulder of your comrades is your choice." His retort was sharp and scathing, but never did the volume of his voice rise. In fact it got cold enough to freeze Yomi (the underworld) and increasingly softer until you had to lean in to hear the words.

Subconsciously he cranked up the suffocating pressure with each word. He was only partially guiding his intent and so the whole area got bathed in the feeling but the kunoichi and the few around her felt it the most.

To the kunoichi and the shinobi around her the pressure closed up their throats and forced tears to their eyes. The terror consumed them. In their eyes the world shrunk, people disappeared and only their surroundings darkened. Seimei seemed to get closer and closer, getting larger and more forbidding, towering over them.

Seimei watched as they had each taken out a kunai and brought it closer until they were close to slitting their necks just to ease the feeling of death and helplessness. Feeling he had gotten the message across he reined in his intent as if it had never been there at all. Everyone, even those who had not faced the full force of his wrath, had faces drained of blood and they all took shaky breaths to calm their frantically beating hearts. The group in front of him had dropped their weapons from nerveless fingers and were on their hands and knees still shaking from the aftermath.

Even the wolves had been affected. All bar Tsuki were on their bellies, head down and eyes lowered in submission. Seimei made a series of clips and rumbling growls to assure them and order them back to their positions. As animal psyches were less complicated they recovered much faster and returned to their former places.

As a sign of his contempt of them he turned his back to face the Kumo shinobi. Even though Hiashi had had several minutes to recover he was still pale, the children even more so- catatonic even. Frowning slightly he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and pushed a burst of chakra to get rid of any lingering suicidal feelings, then did the same for the little ones.

"Gomen (sorry)."

After checking that his friend was alright Seimei turned to the forest and seemingly spoke to nothing.

"Tora-teichou (Captain Tiger). See to it that your men create a perimeter." A white mask materialised and hung in mid air. It jerked a nod then disappeared again. Seimei had seen the squad that had chased after him arrive just before his first burst of KI. He had ignored them in favour of dealing with the problem knowing that they would only interfere if things degenerated.

:Arigato Ken... you may go back to your mate now:

:No probs bro':

Seimei followed on behind Hiashi and the rest of the Konoha ninja who had already started moving. One of the Hyuuga had picked up Gashira.

_a damn nuisance that Hiashi went Jyuuken-happy. It is useless to try an interrogate a dead prisoner- though the oinin will be happy with another toy... _

The wolves regrouped to form a double ring around the Kumo delegates-turned-prisoners and followed in pace with Seimei. The Kumo shinobi were forced to either follow suit of risk getting their behind's mauled or knocked unconscious by the trailing ANBU. The pace was slow to start off with but increased when they realised the futility of resisting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time the group passed the gates a large contingent of Konoha Military Police were standing by to take the Kumo shinobi to holding cells. Aso waiting on the side was a tired looking chuunin messenger.

"Senshi-sama. The Hokage requests your presence in the Tower immediately."

Seimei gave a tired wave. He had known without prompting that he would be required to give a full briefing immediately. Luckily on the journey back he had taken a pepperup pill so he would be good for a few more hours, though he wouldn't be adverse to sleep. This time Hiashi clapped a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze before moving off back home.

Placing a hand on Tsuki's head he used Konoha Shunshin to get him to the Hokage Tower.

He wasn't surprised to find others in the office as well. He gave a salute.

"Hokage-sama, Shikikan-sama, Mitokoda-dono, Utatane-dono, Danzo-dono."

"At ease Seimei-san." Sarutobi couldn't be seen favouring any shinobi so used the normal form of address. "If you could please relate the details of to night's events..."

Seimei relaxed a bit with hands clasped in the arch of the back, feet a should width apart and stared straight ahead, face blank, expertly ignoring the feeling of wet clothing and the water that was pooling at his feet, the picture of a perfect shinobi.

"Hai Hokage-sama. I was wakened by my familiar alerting me to a shinobi on their territory fleeing at high speeds away from Konoha carrying two children-"

"Sorry Seimei-san. You are not an Inuzuka are you?" Interrupted Danzo.

"Hai. However I was taught a method of creating a bond similar to that of the Inuzuka nin-dog bond." He was hashing it a bit there but there was no need for them to know the real reason. If they did not know already then they would not need to."... I got dressed quickly and pursued. By the time I had arrived the fleeing shinobi was already dead. The Kumo shinobi were understandably shocked and were moving in to engage when I arrived. I stopped the misunderstanding and brought them back for questioning. The fleeing ninja was Gashira, the head ninja of the Kumo delegation, and he was carrying the Hyuuga Heir and nephew of the Hyuuga Clan Head. The KMP were notified and brought the prisoners to the holding cells. The corpse was sent to the morgue. There were no other casualties."

"Excellent job as always Seimei-san."

The group of leading shinobi questioned him some more before coming to a verdict.

"Seimei-san. As of now you are in charge of this investigation. Find out if Gashira had any accomplices and how this breach in security occured. You have three days. Dismissed."

"Hai Hokage-sama." Seimei gave a bow and left the tower. Seimei hugged Tsuki and told her to go back to her pack. He then made his way back to his apartment.

_whoop-de-flipping-wo..._ he sighed _...there goes my sleep..._

He glanced at the sky and estimated it to be about 3 o'clock

_well, whatever Hiruzen's orders are they can wait 4 more hours..._

* * *

AN: Well that's another part of the story done.

Yay! The story timeline is moving on a bit.

ps. How was the confrontaion bit?

please remember to review...

pps. Will be going on holiday so no updates for about 2 months. Sorry! :S

List of spells and techniques 

C = Chakra technique

M = Magic spell

CM = Chakra/Magic Hybrid

XX

M:

XX

C: **Jyuuken**: Gentle Fist Style taijutsu

C: **Konoha Shunshin no Jutsu**: Konoha Style (leaf) Body Flicker technique

XX

CM: **Shunpo**: Flash Step

XX


	9. Apologies

AN:

Sorry about the no update.

I just read through my story again and realised that I now want to put in some extra stuff.

The new bit will also make things a bit clearer.

I will try to get at least the first chapter of the revamped story out before the end of September when I start Uni.

Title for the new story will be:

The Abilities of True Geniuses

(subject to change... I think it's a bit lame...)

I will update when the new story is up.

Sorry again to those who have been reading.

Special thanks to those who reviewed:

Adam Davis

god of all

Rukoh

pheonixlady7: Thanks for the correction on terms- I have changed it. As for the other, it will be better explained in the revamp.

Inkwell of Stars: Thanks. I like him too. I won't be changing him much, just give a little more insight into his character.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Thanks again.

I hope you will keep reading my story.

Signed,

tiggerpal07


End file.
